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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/45198
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm stuck on a POV question in a short story I'm writing. The entire story is written in 3rd Person, but not omniscient - I guess it's either "distant limited" or "deep" (I'm not sure exactly the difference and where my story lands, maybe someone can help). That said there are only 2-3 parts where I'm wondering if I need to cut for consistency, or is it ok? If it's ok, does that put it in "omniscient" or "occasional omniscient" if there is such a thing?

Examples:

1. There is a main character (but not the POV) who at one point says something like: "...some people called him a jerk, others called him an idiot; still others called stupid..." But the POV character wouldn't have heard that himself or have a way of knowing that. But I feel it's important to explain (and I can't show it because those events would never be in front of the POV character to observe it) - would I need to take that out to keep consistent? Or is it justified somehow and what would the POV then be?

2. The main POV character is approaching a truck with two men in it. The windows are rolled up so the main character couldn't actually hear them. I had a couple of lines of dialogue for the men in the truck. Something like, "Who's that kid?" and the other replying "How would I know?" Again, since the POV character can't actually hear them, do I need to take that out, or if I leave it in, how is it justified? What kind of POV do I have then?

3. In one scene, the parents of a boy are arguing in the kitchen. To keep within the POV, would only the conversation that the boy could actually hear be written? Currently, that's how I did it, but what if I wanted to include a scene here or there where maybe the parents say something out of earshot?

I think in the whole story these are the only 2-3 places that may break from what the POV character can see and know. But can one sprinkle the odd POV position throughout a story or does that smack of amateurish writing? Thanks in advance for any clarification.

Original score: 3