Talk:Points of View

A good discussion, but could be improved

There are a couple of points you might consider addressing:

Third-person limited (one character) vs. third-person limited (multiple characters in turn). This is a compromise between third person limited and third person omniscient: the writer concentrates on one character at a time, but switches off characters with chapter or scene breaks. This enables writers to give each of the characters some time in the spotlight in terms of revealing what kind of person they are from "inside their heads."

There is sometimes a tendency in writers doing third-person limited (multiple) to change horses in mid-stream—starting in the viewpoint of one character, then ending from the viewpoint of another. This is to be avoided.

Past vs. Present Tense. Perhaps you could explain why some writers use past tense ("The horse walked up the hill") and others use present ("The horse walks up the hill"). (Neal Stephenson seems to use present tense almost exclusively these days, for no reason I can perceive except to drive his readers up the wall.) Alternately, this might be a subject for a whole new essay. —Robotech Master 06:16, 9 June 2009 (UTC)