Hello Everyone, I just want to see if I get this right; In third person POV, the narrative distance can be changed within a scene. More specifically: 1- You can start your scene from with contemporary omniscient in order to provide setting, background story or even the character's physical description before the limited third person POV takes over. 2- Even if most of your scene is in distant limited third person, you can choose to get closer. I usually end up in my character's mind bey the end of the scene even though the rest of it is in distant limited third person POV. Please don't laugh at me if this is such a basic issue that everyone should know already
I think that moving from omniscient to limited is a great deal more controversial than moving from distant limited to close limited. I'm not saying you can't do it, but it strikes me as more of a guideline-breaker.
I agree that the greater the zoom distance, the more likely this is to be jarring. I think it can work fairly well when there's an introductory paragraph or few that zooms to limited (like the Harry Potter opening), but I'm having trouble thinking of an example of going all the way from omni to close...
It's creative writing guys, you can do whatever the hell you want. The question is, will anybody read it?
It's kind of hard to judge till we see how it reads. Could you post the pertinent writing in the Workshop?
There are no rules in writing, only principles. Rules say do not break this ever. Principles say things usually work best this way and if you break the mold, you better know what the hell you're doing and why you are doing it. That said, third person really has two main types omniscient and limited. Like you said, in limited you can set a scene and get away with it, but usually it is inside one characters mind. Omniscient you can go wherever you want, see whatever you want, and jump into any character's head whenever you want. There's a reason why it is considered one of the hardest POV to write in because you don't have a single character to influence voice in the writing, and if you aren't good at it then the reader can get lost and lose any sense of space.
I personally like writings that change perspectives, either in chapters or over the course of the tale. If the writer does it in a way that allows the reader to change with the author then it is a great tool and can add to the art of the writing.