Good evening, scribes.
It is late tonight, so I won’t waste much time getting to the point for today’s writing prompt. We’ve covered a lot this week. Everything from using deus ex machina to justifying our bad guys, and all with the purpose of understanding different points of view.
Today, we will continue looking at things from different perspectives. And we will focus on the all-mighty God role a bit.
Writing in 3rd person is arguably the most popular writing style of them all. However, noting every detail and just being a fly on the wall are two different styles that you need to choose.
Oftentimes, new writers will switch back and forth between the two and not even notice. However, if you don’t notice, your readers will.
This is a tricky one, so let’s look at the prompt and then I will explain more below.
March 18
Write a scene about four friends preparing for a hike. Each person forgets one item crucial to the event. Stay out of God-mode while writing.
“God-mode” as I call it, is what is commonly known as 3rd person omniscient. It basically means the author has exclusive looks inside every situation, character and arc.
We can see the characters movements, hear their words and read their thoughts. We know what is going on in another scene even without being there and can see through any character’s eyes at any moment. It is a powerful tool to use, as we have done so this week.
However, today we are writing in 3rd person limited. The limited means we get the views, the thoughts and actions of our main character, but not the thoughts and insights of other characters.
Think of 3rd person limited in this way:
It is as if the narrator is the main character, such as in 1st person, but they are telling the story that already happened, not as it is happening.
You will write with the he/she/they aspect, everything is mainly past-tense (John went to the bar. Sally talked with Bob about his drinking. John thought “Sally is a nag.”)
Don’t worry too much about the tense for now, we will cover that later (maybe nest week?). Almost all 3rd person is past tense, though, which is why I used it in my explanation.
So, your task today, is to take this 3rd person limited, write your story with 4 characters and only enter the mind of the main one, not all four.
Think you can handle it?
Post what you come up with in the comment section below for a review and advice from me (if you want it).
