On Someone's Shoulder

Couple of paired episodes last week and this one. Last week we took on first person narrators. Some good discussion (if I do say so myself) on collective first person (we, us) and the limitations of the first person narrator, including the establishment of unreliability.This week we take on the other point of view (POV) – third person. This is all those stories with the “he she they” characters. Increasingly we see a desire for “close” third so we’ll unpack that and help you identify third person when you see it.BUT FIRST! Next week is listener appreciation week and we’ll be joined in studio by a couple of fans of us and the show. Our moms! Well, it’s Rex’s mom and my mother-in-law but she’s been my Mama for 20+ years so we’ll call her mom, too. If you want to weigh in on the show, complete this feedback form.As always, Write On SC is grateful for the support of the South Carolina Writers Association. We have accepted the organization’s patronage this year and it’s helped us pay our bills and keep the lights on as they say. Thank you, SCWA for supporting the show and promoting our efforts to make better writers (and readers!) out of the audience on 100.7 The Point and our podcast audience, too.Let’s get to it: What is a 3rd person narrator?The narrator is the one telling the story and while sometimes the story is through the character’s eyes (1st person), a LOT of times, it’s more like a camera perched on one (or more) character’s shoulder observing what’s happening.Back in Episode 83: Who’s Story is this Anyway? We talked about the different POVs. So we’ll borrow some from that. That was during COVID so we mighta been a little kooky. But then, before that, in Episode 56, way back in 2019, we also talked about this POV thing. So we’ll borrow some from then, too. I even did this was back on Episode 3 with my cousin Preston, who, not for nothin, now has a PhD in Literature and teaches out at Stanford. Back then I think he was still an undergrad.So the primary advantage of third person is distance. Imagine reading all of Harry Potter’s books living in that kid’s head. Yikes. Third person lets the narrator tell the story, follow the character, but keep enough distance that we’re not bogged down with the internal monologue of our (likely) troubled protagonist.What are some books that do a good third person?Read more on the blog