Third person point of view has various subtle shades within fiction. There\u2019s disagreement on the value and boundaries of categories like \u201cthird person flexible\u201d or \u201cthird person objective\u201d. For practical purposes, they can be boiled down to two groups \u2013 third person limited and third person omniscient.<\/p>\n
Third person limited is the most common, and the stepping stone from first person to omniscient. It frees a writer from some of first person\u2019s restrictions, while retaining some of its benefits.<\/p>\n
Third person limited perspective uses third person grammatical forms\u2013 he, she, hers, his, theirs, etc. The narrator does not exist inside the story, which is told as if by some abstract person watching events unfold. It\u2019s so common that we don\u2019t even notice that implied abstract presence.<\/p>\n
As its name implies, third person limited sets some restrictions. What we see and hear is limited to the experience of a single character. We don\u2019t live inside their head, but only get thoughts, opinions and experiences from their perspective. If they don\u2019t see an event then we don\u2019t. If someone else has a thought, we don\u2019t hear it.<\/p>\n
Third person limited has two sets of benefits \u2013 those coming from its familiarity, and those from its place in between first person and omniscient perspectives.<\/p>\n
Because it is so widely used, third person limited is familiar to readers, who will slip into it as comfortably as a pair of old pants. The reader knows where they stand. There are no surprises of perspective, no need for them to think about where the information is coming from.<\/p>\n
The focus of the limited point of view helps to focus the reader. They become absorbed in the character\u2019s life, much like first person perspective. They care about and ride along with the character.<\/p>\n
Much like first person, third person limited gives you the benefits of seeing a character\u2019s thoughts and perspective on the story. You have to do more work in making clear what is thought, with the character\u2019s biases, and what is supposedly objective narration. But with only one set of thoughts to go into, there\u2019s not much room for confusion.<\/p>\n
Third person limited lets you see the narrator, and so describe their appearance and actions to a greater degree than in first person, perhaps mentioning height or hair colour. Extensive physical description is still jarring when applied to the point of view character, so it\u2019s best to slip the details in a little at a time and use some of the same tricks as with first person.<\/p>\n