Sorry if this is a silly question but I am very confused. If you are writing in 3rd person limited pov, you don't have to use the character's voice do you? I always use my own voice when I write but I'm not exactly an omni narrator.
3rd person limited voice
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No, I think you do need to use the character's voice since it's all from their perspective. Limited third person is much akin to first person, but more outside the box. I like to think of it as a camera man following your MC around, but the focus is always on the MC. You can even slip in some first person thoughts from your MC.
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Hey, I just learned that my story is written in third-person unlimited! Cool. 
I always thought it fell pretty much halfway between omniscient and limited, but had never heard of this one.
Anyway, as far as voice, I think just because it's third person doesn't mean you can't have the character's voice, though it isn't necessary, either. You could, in theory, have a narrator with a completely different voice from everyone else. I know that when I write third person, however, the voice I'm writing in changes depending on the story as well. I don't view it as me telling the story.
I always thought it fell pretty much halfway between omniscient and limited, but had never heard of this one. Anyway, as far as voice, I think just because it's third person doesn't mean you can't have the character's voice, though it isn't necessary, either. You could, in theory, have a narrator with a completely different voice from everyone else. I know that when I write third person, however, the voice I'm writing in changes depending on the story as well. I don't view it as me telling the story.
Libbie read the question on the AW forums and sat considering it for a moment. She often wrote in limited third, but this question got to her: Did she inject the character's voice into limited? And if she did, how did her use of limited third differ from close third?
Suddenly, Libbie realized she could smell the cat box. It was distracting her. An uncomfortable thing, smelling the cat box while trying to answer questions on a forum. And her legs ached from yesterday's stint at the book store. Since taking that second part-time job, she was finding it more difficult every moment to stay focused on one task -- even answering a simple question about limited third POV on an internet forum. She looked at one of the books lying on her coffee table, accusing her with its dog-eared presence. She was supposed to be doing research for her next novel right now, not surfing the web. When did her Silverman book get all warped? It must have been in the car when she left the windows down in that damn rain storm.
Libbie shifted to close third and did the whole thing over again.
Libbie read the question on the AW forum and scratched her ass while she wasted more precious time. She wrote in limited third all the time, mostly because it was easy as f*ck. Did her use of limited and close third differ? Who cared? Not Libbie, that was for sure. Her motto of late was Let an editor worry about it. Let an editor worry about all of it. Even whether to put a comma after was and before Let.
Crap. Libbie could smell the cat box. It was really bad this time. Tron must have found the shrimp tails in the garbage from last night's dinner. She knew she should have taken the trash out before bed. Shit! Literally, shit! And her legs were hurting like hell from all the squatting and unsquatting she'd done yesterday, stocking those godawful cozy mysteries with stupid titles at the book store. Libbie's patience was thinning by the moment, ever since she'd taken that second part-time job. But her savings account needed building up, and she'd read enough on AW to know she couldn't count on selling her damn novel to do it. This economy. Sonofabitch.
She stared at the Silverman book slouching on her table. It was all warped, like it had been rained on. When had that happened? What was the question? Why was she still typing on this forum? Libbie was so distractable of late. She knew one thing, though: Harry Houdini was hot.
She'd invent a time machine and go back in time and seduce him. As soon as she cleaned the cat box. And took out the trash.
That was my stupid way of saying that you should use the character's voice in limited, but not as explicitly or obviously as in close. I guess that example only works if you know my usual voice, and can compare it to the "close" sample.
FAIL!
Hey, why do my legs hurt? How did my book get rained on?
FAIL!
Hey, why do my legs hurt? How did my book get rained on?
When you are in Third Person you can make all the surrounding words sound like the POV character.
Like this:
"What d'ya mean I ain't smart?" Folks was always saying he weren't smart. But he was. He could track a deer through any thicket or brush you could point him to. He kept food on the table fer the young 'uns. If that weren't smart, he didn't know what was.
Or you can use your own 'author voice' in all that narrative that surrounds the dialog. Like this:
"What d'ya mean I ain't smart?" Why did they say he wasn't smart? He was a skilled tracker and he provided for his family in these bad times. What better measure of intelligence could there be?
You can also use both the author voice and the character voice in your non-dialog narrative, chosing one or the other depending on how far into the character's head you want to be.
There's lots of systems of terminology for this. You can get into that if you are a friend of terminology.
And if your POV character sounds like the author, the question is moot.
Like this:
"What d'ya mean I ain't smart?" Folks was always saying he weren't smart. But he was. He could track a deer through any thicket or brush you could point him to. He kept food on the table fer the young 'uns. If that weren't smart, he didn't know what was.
Or you can use your own 'author voice' in all that narrative that surrounds the dialog. Like this:
"What d'ya mean I ain't smart?" Why did they say he wasn't smart? He was a skilled tracker and he provided for his family in these bad times. What better measure of intelligence could there be?
You can also use both the author voice and the character voice in your non-dialog narrative, chosing one or the other depending on how far into the character's head you want to be.
There's lots of systems of terminology for this. You can get into that if you are a friend of terminology.
And if your POV character sounds like the author, the question is moot.
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I think of third as a continuum from distant to intimate. You can choose whether to stay fixed at a particular distance or move in and out of intimacy. There can be as many shades between entirely external and comletely internal as you can come up with:
'He removed his heavy horn rimmed glasses rubbed his eyes and left the book open, face down on the bed.'
He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He left the book open, face down on the bed, too tired to close it properly or find the book mark Jenny had given him as a gift.'
'He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. God he was knackered . He put his book down, open on the bed. He couldnt remember where he'd left the book mark Jenny had given him. She'd be doubly pissed off, that he'd cracked the spine on her precious book and that he'd failed to treasure her gift. She made such a fuss about trivia.'
'He ditched his glasses, old fart that he was. His eyes felt gritty like he'd been on some three day bender - pity was he hadn't. God, he was knackered. It was the job, but more than that it was Jenny. When had the stunna turned into a bitch? It was all 'Books are precious and to be treasured, darling. Don't slam them down youll wear their spines.' It was too long since she'd done much wearing down of her own spine. Frigid bitch. He couldn't be arsed to dig out the pricey book mark she'd givn him. Sod it. Sod her. He plonked the book open, face down on the bed.'
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You can choose how much of the character's voice is audible in 3rd person limited. There will be times when you'll want to get in close, times when you want to step back a bit.
Think of it as hearing and knowing everything about that character but then editing it.
Think of it as hearing and knowing everything about that character but then editing it.
Here's a page about point of view, but it's a bit on the technical side. The reason I bring this up, here, is that it contains examples along with the discussion. It helps to read around a bit, for context, but the texts you want to look at in particular are:
Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Huxley: Crome Yellow
Austen: Emma
(Both Hemingway and Huxley would be limited, Austen is omniscient; the article doesn't use those terms.)
Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Huxley: Crome Yellow
Austen: Emma
(Both Hemingway and Huxley would be limited, Austen is omniscient; the article doesn't use those terms.)
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No you don't. You can have a separate narrator. However, you're still "limited" to only what your character can see, hear, etc. and what he/she thinks or feels.
Some people prefer to write in the POV character's voice (thus they will change the narrative voice when they switch to another character). Personally, I prefer a consistent 3rd person narrative voice. But that's just me.
Just be consistent. What jars me the most is when the author is not disciplined enough to control the narrative voice. One minute it would sound like the POV character, and the next, there's a "narrator's" voice. Make a decision and stick with it, but don't mix and match.
p.s. I'm only speaking of the narrative voice. Obviously, when you're in the character's perspective, you can reveal the thoughts, etc. without filtering -- which may read like narrative sometimes because you don't use "he thought" or "he felt." But I'm strictly talking about the narrative.
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You write omniscient (which you can, of course, zoom in and out at will). This is about 3rd limited. There's no distant viewpoint because it's always the viewpoint of the POV character's.
Besides, we're talking about narrative voice, not viewpoints.
Of the eight novels I have published to date some have been omni some have been in various types of third and one has been in first.
Of the two currently in submission one is in first and one in alternating third.
I am talking about narrative distance, an aspect of 'voice' and it does not have to be consistent within one novel - you can move between heavily filtered and unfiltered approaches though it is more common to pick a distance and stick to it.
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