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Q&A Third Person Multiple POV in a single scene, how to refer each other if one character does not know the name of other character and vice versa

There are different levels of 3rd person narration, so it depends. Your narrator might describe the scene like someone viewing a movie. Or the narrator might be omniscient. What yours sounds lik...

posted 6y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-20T00:40:30Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40812
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:03:54Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40812
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:03:54Z (about 5 years ago)
There are different levels of 3rd person narration, so it depends.

Your narrator might describe the scene like someone viewing a movie. Or the narrator might be omniscient. What yours sounds like is a narrator that goes inside the character's head and describes things as if they were in first person, just using the 3rd person point of view.

If you're inside someone's head then, yes, describe only what they experience or know. Given the way these two characters are meeting, it would be very easy for you to have them introduce themselves and get that out of the way.

If you want to put it off, let another character say the person's name.

"Niranjan? Your table is ready."

or

"Hey, Jen, don't forget you're closing tomorrow. See ya in the morning."

If your narrator is not in a character's head and just follows one of them around at a time, then you could use both names right away. Especially because it's just the two of them the narrator "knows" so well.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-12-19T05:06:44Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 0