Creating A 3rd Person Narrative Essay: Basic Tutorial

Many students are used to writing narratives using the 1st person point of view. Therefore, when asked to write a 3rd person narrative, most students will experience considerable challenges and frustrations. However, creating a 3rd person narrative essay is not as complicated as most students would like to imagine. Here is a basic tutorial to guide you.

The Basics

A subjective or omniscient third-person narrative allows the reader to understand the actions, motivations and thoughts of one or several characters. For instance, “Eric felt he had to stop the rowdy young men from harassing the young woman”. On the other hand, an objective third-person narrative eliminates the narrator’s bias by only presenting facts and leaving out interpretation. The narrator in this case holds a limited view and can only express what can be heard or seen.

Understand How View Point Works

Any view point, whether first or third-person, should offer the reader some insights into that character’s feelings, thoughts, knowledge and emotions. The point of view should enable the reader to know how your characters think, feel, and even what they can see in the surrounding setting.

Recognize the Value of Omniscient Third-person

When writing in the subjective point of view, the narrator can access all the feelings and thoughts of the characters within the story. You should not be limited to a single character’s view point. As the author, you are free to change from one character’s point of view to another character’s point of view. Additionally, similar events or objects can be interpreted by various character voices. The fact that the point of view is subjective means that it holds a “god like” detachment from the characters and may have an aerial view of the actions, thoughts and events of the characters. When writing your narrative, this point of view offers you the freedom to occupy many character perspectives and voices.

Use the Omniscient View Point to Directly Address Your Audience

One advantage of the subjective view point is that you can directly talk to the reader and create a more intimate and direct relationship with him/her. This can be something simple like stating, “Dear reader, the decision to fire John was not an easy one. Let me explain why”. Alternatively, you can use a less direct approach to address the reader. For instance, “Don’t be worried about John. He will have a difficult time now, but in the long-term he will get used to the way things are done at the company”.