Does anybody have a good understanding of limited omniscient POV? I figure you see it a lot in fantasy books, so you fantasy/sci fi writers might know what I'm talking about. I've found very little out there that really tells me what I need to know about third person limited omniscient.
There's the general information, such as "the omniscient POV allows you to pan out and give a larger view of a scene, or to move from one character's head to another." However, trying to actually write in third person limited omniscient is proving much less obvious than I expected.
They say the omniscient POV's biggest fault is that you lose that closeness with the character, you have to distance yourself. I guess I'm having a hard time seeing exactly how far you have to distance yourself. I read books that are supposedly limited omniscient, and to me, they read like third person.
People have told me that Robert Jordan's books were limited omniscient. I can see that some parts are omniscient. Some chapters start in a very panned out camera view and then move in to the character's head. But once in the character's head, it reads like third limited.
So I guess my question is, if I am writing a story in limited omniscient, and I have started with a panned out POV, and then pan in to focuse on one character (the way Jordan did), what are the little details that would make my writing omniscient vs. third limited when inside that character's head?
I thought it would be stuff like: You can't put direct thoughts of the character without those filter words. But then Robert Jordan did. Crossroads of Twilight has this paragraph...
"That's what Masuri said," Perrin said absently. What was keeping Grady? How many people were there in Ebou Dar?...
Perrin asked a direct question. I didn't think you could do that with omniscient. Because you are in a narrator's head, not the character. I thought omniscient would have to word it like ... "Perrin wondered what was keeping Grady."
Am I missing something? Is he actually writing in Third Limited? And then throwing in bits of omniscient here and there? I didn't think you could do that (at least not without getting all kinds of complaints about POV errors).
I noticed Guy Gavriel Kay also has direct questions and statements from the characters in his books.
I'm trying to learn by reading authors that write in limited omniscient, but it's only confusing me more.
So where do I draw the line? Or is it okay to write in third limited and then have a paragraph in the middle of a chapter that is omniscient narrator? That's what Robert Jordan seemed to do. What am I missing?!
Help!
There's the general information, such as "the omniscient POV allows you to pan out and give a larger view of a scene, or to move from one character's head to another." However, trying to actually write in third person limited omniscient is proving much less obvious than I expected.
They say the omniscient POV's biggest fault is that you lose that closeness with the character, you have to distance yourself. I guess I'm having a hard time seeing exactly how far you have to distance yourself. I read books that are supposedly limited omniscient, and to me, they read like third person.
People have told me that Robert Jordan's books were limited omniscient. I can see that some parts are omniscient. Some chapters start in a very panned out camera view and then move in to the character's head. But once in the character's head, it reads like third limited.
So I guess my question is, if I am writing a story in limited omniscient, and I have started with a panned out POV, and then pan in to focuse on one character (the way Jordan did), what are the little details that would make my writing omniscient vs. third limited when inside that character's head?
I thought it would be stuff like: You can't put direct thoughts of the character without those filter words. But then Robert Jordan did. Crossroads of Twilight has this paragraph...
"That's what Masuri said," Perrin said absently. What was keeping Grady? How many people were there in Ebou Dar?...
Perrin asked a direct question. I didn't think you could do that with omniscient. Because you are in a narrator's head, not the character. I thought omniscient would have to word it like ... "Perrin wondered what was keeping Grady."
Am I missing something? Is he actually writing in Third Limited? And then throwing in bits of omniscient here and there? I didn't think you could do that (at least not without getting all kinds of complaints about POV errors).
I noticed Guy Gavriel Kay also has direct questions and statements from the characters in his books.
I'm trying to learn by reading authors that write in limited omniscient, but it's only confusing me more.
So where do I draw the line? Or is it okay to write in third limited and then have a paragraph in the middle of a chapter that is omniscient narrator? That's what Robert Jordan seemed to do. What am I missing?!
Help!
