Tea at Trianon: Writing in Third Person Omniscient vs Third Person Limited

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 27, 2017

Writing in Third Person Omniscient vs Third Person Limited

From Reedsy:

In this post, we’ll be looking at the options available to authors writing in the third person: omniscient and limited. In third person omniscient narration, the narrator has a god’s eye view of the story and is privy to all characters’ thoughts, as well as knowledge of the past and future. Then there’s third person limited, where the narrator’s scope of knowledge is intimately tied to a particular character — very often the protagonist. (Read more.)

Unknown said...: Hi, Elena Maria!

Thanks for sharing this post — I'm really glad you like it :)

I wanted to let you know about a new post I've just written on the topic of Dynamic Characters. Like the Third Person narration post, it features solid examples from popular books and a nice infographic to reinforce what we're teaching. You can find it here: https://blog.reedsy.com/dynamic-character

I hope you'll consider sharing it with your readers!

All the best,

Martin; April 18, 2017 at 10:31:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Wonderful! Thank you, Martin!; April 18, 2017 at 3:26:00 PM EDT
Unknown said...: Hey Elena,

In case you're interested, I've just published a new writing guide about 'theme' that features a great little infographic that we've been working on. I hope you'll check it out!

https://blog.reedsy.com/what-is-the-theme-of-a-book; July 26, 2017 at 7:29:00 AM EDT