Most writers (and readers) could explain the difference between first, second, and third-person point of view in a general sense: first is from the “I” perspective, second is the more controlling “you,” and third-person is narrated from outside the events of the story using “she,” “he,” or “they.”

But third can be a little more tricky than it first appears. There are actually four types of third-person point of view, each offering a different level of separation from the character. From the most to least amount of separation, we have:

• Omniscient
• Objective
• Limited
• Deep

Objective Third-Person Point of View

Objective (my least favorite) is pesky. It approaches the story from an almost journalistic perspective, remaining detached from the characters. Objective narrators tell the events as they occur with no insight into the thoughts, feelings, or motivations of the characters. If it isn’t something that we could visually discern, then it isn’t something the narrator will share.

Omniscient Third-Person Point of View

Omniscient narrators bring us in a little closer. Many will refer to this POV as a god-like or all-knowing narrator. The omniscient narrator can flit about as they please, knowing everything there is to know about the characters, how they think and feel, etc. (With omniscience comes a great risk of head-hopping—a topic for another post.)

Let’s do a quick comparison between Objective and Omniscient:

Objective

The mess had been cleaned up, but the house still smelled of burnt chocolate. Stella and Max ran to the window and watched their mom’s car roll into the garage. Max flinched at the rumbling of the door rolling down, then again at the quieter slam of a car door. Stella pulled him into the living room and turned on the television. When their mom walked in, Stella hopped up. “Mommy, you’re home!”

Omniscient

The mess had been cleaned up, but the house still smelled of burnt chocolate. Stella and Max, hearts pounding, ran to the window and watched their mom’s car roll into the garage. Max flinched at the rumbling of the door rolling down, then again at the quieter slam of a car door. He knew their mom would know they had played with the oven, knew she would smell what was meant to be brownies, and that they would both be grounded.

Stella, older and better at lying—or so she thought—pulled him into the living room and turned on the television. They would pretend they had been there all afternoon, waiting for their mom to come back like little angels. When their mom walked in, Stella hopped up and threw on her best smile, hoping it would work. “Mommy, you’re home!”

Limited Third-Person Point of View

When we get to limited (or close) third, we remain an observer but our observations are tethered to one character. Rather than narrating for everyone, we are only given a report of our POV character and their interpretation of events, other characters, etc. (like first-person, but from a third-person narrative style).

Deep Third-Person Point of View

Deep third-person point of view keeps the narrow scope of limited third and narrows it further. It immerses your reader in the experience of your character by removing most of the narrative voice. That is: we are no longer an observer of the character, we are within the character. 

In limited, if a character doesn’t notice the door to his left, we could notice it. But in deep, if that character doesn’t notice that door then we have no idea it’s there either. This tighter narration style can bring a stronger sense of connection to the character, great suspense (in that we can’t know what they don’t), and may also help you clip longer sentences to keep the pacing up.

Now let’s compare Limited and Deep:

Limited

Even with Elliot two tables away, Emily could spot the smear of purple in the corner of his mouth. She stared at him, wondering if she was the one who stole her ice pop, unaware of the plastic wrapped by his feet.

Deep

Elliot sat two tables away, a big smear of purple visible in the corner of his dumb mouth. Was he the one who stole her ice pop?

Can you see and feel the difference?

Let’s take another look. The limited third-person POV includes narrative voice to guide the reader through what’s happening, and is aware of details that Emily isn’t.

In the deep third-person POV example, that’s all gone and we’re in Emily’s head as she observes and wonders about Elliot.

Omniscience vs.Multiple POV

It’s common today (at least in fantasy) to experience a novel written in a multiple point of view format. This means that the author has chosen to work with a limited or deep third narrative style, but the focus character will change from chapter-to-chapter.

What’s enjoyable about this choice is that you can still maintain some semblance of omniscience in a novel that uses multiple POV chapters. In fact, this can be a fun way to slowly reveal information if we’re given different perspectives of the same events. But the parameters you set for your POV have to be maintained from character to character and you have to be careful not to accidentally break those parameters.

Care and consistency will always be key with any narrative style.