3rd person omniscient vs. limited

[Mrsgnomie]

I’m working on my first 3rd person story. I normally do 1st person so this new for me.

Part of me is wants to do omniscient but I’m worried it could get too cluttered.

What are your thoughts on this?

And does anyone have links to a well done omniscient story? Most of the ones I’ve read are limited.

I’ve read a few omniscient but they weren’t great (maybe just not good writing?)

 

[Weird Harold]

I’m working on my first 3rd person story. I normally do 1st person so this new for me.

Part of me is wants to do omniscient but I’m worried it could get too cluttered.

What are your thoughts on this?

And does anyone have links to a well done omniscient story? Most of the ones I’ve read are limited.

I’ve read a few omniscient but they weren’t great (maybe just not good writing?)

What does your story need from Third Person? Very few stories actually need omniscient but a few need very few limits on third person, making them difficult to distinguish from Omniscient.

Limit your third person as much as the story permits -- you may wind up with Omniscient if that's what your story demands.

 

[Mrsgnomie]

What does your story need from Third Person? Very few stories actually need omniscient but a few need very few limits on third person, making them difficult to distinguish from Omniscient.

Limit your third person as much as the story permits -- you may wind up with Omniscient if that's what your story demands.

I kind of wanted to know where both leads are, but I’m thinking it might be easier to do limited and transition POV occasionally, so the reader can know both characters without making the reading too confusing.

I also think that maybe limited will be easier for my first 3rd person story.

 

[Hypoxia]

Mi dos centavos: Third-person omniscient (3PO) fits with epic novels and other sweeping tales. 1P narrative can get tiring after a few hundred pages and limited (3PL) can feel tight at that length. 3PO allows major scene shifts. Or combine the tricks: 3PO for scene-setting, 3PL to focus on each player. That works with shorter stories, too.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I kind of wanted to know where both leads are, but I’m thinking it might be easier to do limited and transition POV occasionally, so the reader can know both characters without making the reading too confusing.

I also think that maybe limited will be easier for my first 3rd person story.

My story "The Floating World Part 01" has alternate third person pov, his view, her view, with clearly delineated pov shifts. A very generous reviewer said this about it:

I've always been partial to first person narration for conveying the intimate details of a character's inner life. But this story wonderfully shows how third person narration can be used to convey the inner activity of two characters, even during the intricate steps of their dance. We see the evening not as we would see it in real life---where we know our own feelings but can only guess at our partner's---but privy to both sides, able to see the uncertainty and hopefulness and playfulness and arousal on both sides as flirtation turns to courtship and courtship turns to foreplay. It's two intimate stories, really, interwoven at every scene. A tour-de-force of patient, loving, doubly imagined detail.

 

[Handley_Page]

Do you mean a "Narrator" ?