Third-Person Limited Point-of-View: He, She, & It

M.L. Bull
9 hours ago
5 min read

In a previous blog post, I've discussed and went over first-person point-of-view. The next point-of-view I'll be going over is third-person limited. Now, you might be wondering what's significant about the whole "limited" reference, but it's mostly for identification purposes. I'll get into the differences between third-person limited and omniscient later; but for now, keep in mind there's more than one type of third-person perspective. Third-person limited is the most commonly used point-of-view writers use in their short stories or novels. While there are some similarities to first-person, this point-of-view is specifically when a narrator or the author reveals and shares the expressions of a single character per scene. Although writing in third-person limited is considered the easiest one, there are key points that are important for writers to ensure they write this perspective properly for readers. Let's check them out below, as well as see some examples of books written in third-person limited point-of-view.

A side view of a man's face and a woman wearing a sunhat, and a cat.

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5 KEY POINTS FOR 3RD PERSON LIMITED POINT-OF-VIEW

A man with black hair wearing a green t-shirt writing with a pencil on a notepad.

Writing in third-person limited might seem simple, but sometimes writers get into pitfalls or plot holes when writing this perspective in their stories. For example, revealing information a particular viewpoint character shouldn't know or was never told, or forgetting the mention of a previous story detail that never gets followed up or resolved by the story's ending. Both of these are common mistakes for third-person limited.

The following five key points below can help prevent these and other issues:

5 KEY POINTS FOR 3RD PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW

KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS WELL
USE ONE CHARACTER PER SCENE
USE PROPER PRONOUNS
SHOW INTERNAL CONFLICT
WITHHOLD INFORMATION UNTIL THE CHARACTER DISCOVERS IT

KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS WELL

A group of teen girls wearing school uniforms.

When it comes to writing in third-person limited, knowing your characters is far beyond their physical attributes, personalities, or the basic details from writing character profiles or backstories as discussed before in my previous blog posts. Although these things are important, it's crucial that writers also consider other things that are more significant. For example, what role does the viewpoint character play? Are they a protagonist, antagonist, supporting character, or minor character? Another important way to know the viewpoint character is based on their story relationships. Think about what's a character or characters' relationship with other characters within the story. How does the characters connect with one another, and what makes their relationship significant to the whole story itself? Answering questions like these allow writers to know what goals are needed in scenes, the character motivation, and the turning points they'll need to create for a cohesive storyline.

USE ONE CHARACTER PER SCENE

A black-and-white clapper in an African American man's hand on a black background.

One of the most important bits of information when writing in third-person limited is to use one character per scene. This means that writers reveal and share the actions and thoughts of a single character's perspective at a time and readers are only in that character's head for a particular scene. Writers should also avoid "head-hopping" or switching between viewpoint characters in a scene which confuses readers. Instead, they can insert scene breaks or use the advantage of dialogue for other characters to show their inner cognitive or emotional states. For example, maybe the viewpoint character makes a comment or asks another character a question. Again, it's similar to first-person, but the pronouns differ from one another, and writers have a little more opportunity for story description.

USE PROPER PRONOUNS

The pronouns he, she, and it on a purple background.

This third key point is pretty self-explanatory. Writers use the proper pronouns based on the gender of characters. For male characters, they use pronouns such as "he," "his," or "him." For female characters, they use pronouns like "she" "her," and "hers." And finally, for animals, creatures, or other non-human, living beings, writers use the pronoun "it."

SHOW INTERNAL CONFLICT

Internal conflict makes characters become more alive and realistic to readers and allows writers to form deeper, emotional connections for readers with their characters. When writing in third-person limited, writers can consider some of the following questions: who or what in the external story world causes the viewpoint character to experience internal conflict? Is there an antagonistic character, pivotal event, or certain insecurities that have an effect upon the viewpoint character? What is the viewpoint character's motivation? What choices or decisions do they make? And how does the viewpoint character interact and respond to other characters? All these questions can help writers to show internal conflict while writing in one perspective of a character at a time.

WITHHOLD INFORMATION UNTIL THE CHARACTER DISCOVERS IT

An envelope with "Top Secret" on it in red lettering.

The most important key point is to withhold information until the character discovers it his or herself. This is the hardest part about writing in third-person limited, but writers must keep certain story details or character turning points to themselves, and especially if a viewpoint character wasn't present during a previous scene. How can a viewpoint character know something, if he or she wasn't there? Except if a viewpoint character is informed by another character about something in the story, they shouldn't know anything that happened in an earlier story event. It's also impossible for the viewpoint character to know the inner thoughts of other characters they interact with. Hence, back to the "limited" reference, the only events the viewpoint character should know are those they were involved in, just as in first-person.

"THEY," THE PLURAL CONTEXT OF 3RD PERSON LIMITED

While most of the time the pronouns used for third-person limited by writers are singular context pronouns like "he," "she," or "it," sometimes the plural context can be used too for a collective group of people or characters. For example, an army of soldiers, a neighborhood community, or a crew of athletes on a sport's team. When referring to a group, other plural context pronouns that will need to be used interchangeably are "their" "theirs" or "them." Nonetheless, these instances are rare for third-person limited and should be used sparingly.

STORY EXAMPLES OF 3RD PERSON LIMITED

There are several books that uses the third-person limited point-of-view, but just to name a few, some of these include the children's novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, the survival story of a teenage boy stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash; my debut, Christian romance novel Eva's Promise, the story of a young wife and her disabled husband who suffers a tragic, car accident, and a Christian fiction novel I'm currently reading, What the River Keeps by Cheryl Grey Bostrom, a faith-based story about an anxious, young woman biologist, love, healing, and letting go of the past.

All three of these are perfect examples of third-person limited in stories.

CLOSING REMARKS:

Third-person limited has specific characteristics that are vital when writing in this perspective. Although most writers consider third-person limited easier than first-person, knowing the key points will ensure they write a complete story with a structured plot and believable character relationships that coincide with the objectives and motivations within their stories. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. All right, that's it for this post. If you liked it and found it helpful, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)