Editing Narration (section)

=== {{anchor|third}}Third-person<!-- Section linked from [[Horus Heresy (novels)]] --> ===
{{redirect|Third-person perspective|the graphical perspective in video games|Third-person view}}
In the third-person narrative mode, the narration refers to all characters with [[Personal pronoun|third person pronouns]] like ''he'' or ''she'' and never first- or second-person pronouns.<ref name="Ricoeur1990">{{cite book |author=Paul Ricoeur |title=Time and Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjBw9NuSkuEC&pg=PA89 |date=15 September 1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-71334-2 |pages=89–}}</ref> 

==== <span class="anchor" id="Third-person, omniscient"></span><span class="anchor" id="omni3"></span> Omniscient or limited<!-- Section linked from [[Horus Heresy (novels)]] --> ====
''Omniscient'' point of view is presented by a narrator with an overarching perspective, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. The inclusion of an omniscient narrator is typical in nineteenth-century fiction, including works by [[Charles Dickens]], [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[George Eliot]].<ref>{{citation |last1=Herman |first1=David |last2=Jahn |first2=Manfred |last3=Ryan |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory |year=2005 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-28259-8 |page=442}}</ref>

Some works of fiction, especially novels, employ multiple points of view, with different points of view presented in discrete sections or chapters, including ''[[The English Patient]]'' by [[Michael Ondaatje]], ''[[The Emperor's Children]]'' by [[Claire Messud]] and the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series by [[George R. R. Martin]]. ''[[The Home and the World]]'', written in 1916 by [[Rabindranath Tagore]], is another example of a book with three different point-of-view characters. In ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'' series, written by [[Rick Riordan]], the point of view alternates between characters at intervals.

The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series focuses on the protagonist for much of the seven novels, but sometimes deviates to other characters, particularly in the opening chapters of later novels in the series, which switch from the view of the [[Eponym|eponymous]] Harry to other characters.{{cn|reason=This statement generalizes across all novels, so it needs to be supported with a reliable source. Alternatively, narrow the focus to "Half-Blood Prince" and expand the discussion to other chapters of the novel.|date=May 2025}}

For example, at the beginning of Chapter One of [[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince|''Half-Blood Prince'']], an omniscient narrator describes the [[Muggle]] Prime Minister as "sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince|last=Rowling|first=J.K.|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2005|isbn=0-7475-8110-X|location=London|chapter=Chapter One: The Other Minister|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_074758110x/page/n9/mode/2up?q=%22Prime+Minister%22}}</ref>

Examples of ''Limited'' or close third-person point of view, confined to one character's perspective, include J.M. Coetzee's ''Disgrace''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mountford |first1=Peter |title=Third-Person Limited: Analyzing Fiction's Most Flexible Point of View |url=https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/why-third-person-limited-point-of-view |newspaper=Writer's Digest |access-date=28 July 2020}}</ref>

==== <span class="anchor" id="Third-person, subjective"></span> Subjective or objective ====
''Subjective'' point of view is when the narrator conveys the thoughts, feelings and opinions of one or more characters.<ref name=Dynes>{{cite book |last1=Dynes |first1=Barbara |title=Masterclasses in Creative Writing |date=2014 |publisher=Constable & Robinson |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-47211-003-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0jBBAAAQBAJ&dq=third-person+subjective+objective&pg=PT37 |access-date=28 July 2020 |chapter=Using Third Person}}</ref> ''Objective'' point of view employs a narrator who tells a story without describing any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings; instead, it gives an [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objective]], unbiased point of view.<ref name=Dynes/>