Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Can you use third person limited in a story that begins before the MC is born?

+0
−0

I'm writing a story which starts with the birth of the MC; the scene just shows the parents talking with the doctor. The MC enters the picture in third person limited in the following scene (and the POV continues throughout the story).

Is this still third person limited? Or it's third person omniscient at first and then I have to change the POV to third person limited with a scene break?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/25518. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

2 answers

You are accessing this answer with a direct link, so it's being shown above all other answers regardless of its score. You can return to the normal view.

+0
−0

Third person omniscient and third person limited are analytical categories. They are terms you use if you want to dissect the use of POV in a piece. Don't take them for rules about what you have to do, and don't think you have to even be able to describe what you end up doing in those terms. The fact of the matter is that writers switch POV all the time, and that in many cases it is not clear what analytical category POV even belongs to. (Third person omniscient, for instance, can see everything that third person limited can, so it is not always clear which is being used unless the narrative clearly steps outside of limited.)

Do what works for your story. If it seems natural to you and to readers it is fine, even if you can't categorize it exactly, and even if analysis says it is inconsistent.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

+1
−0

I would start the story in the third person "cinematic" (no head-dipping), and then switch to the third person limited after a scene or chapter break, just as you plan.

Third person omniscient will work for the beginning, too, but is arguably harder to make sound natural than any other flavors of that POV, this is why it is relatively less popular in modern writing.

Writers do switch POV within one scene more often than not—I am not a fan of that technique—it is eventually a matter of style and personal preference.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25525. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »