First of all sorry about my english, I speak french. So I've been stuck on this story for months, and I recently realised that it was partly because I absolutely hate writing in third person perspective. But my story was meant to have multiple povs in each chapter (4 pov in total) and it has a love story that would not involve the narrator which is revolving around two of the main four. I feel like pretending that the narrator (let's call him person A) knows everything that happened to the characters even when he wasn't there might work if I stretch it a bit and make it look like they confided everything in him (it's a pre war story, and the narration happens years after the war, when most of his friends have died). My only problem is, wouldn't it be a bit creepy if he talked about the romantic scenes from his point of view, about his two friends, when he wasn't even there, even if they'd suposedly given him every details (which is kind of a stretch I could try to make work, considering everybody thought they were going to die anyway and might've wanted their story's heard)? Anyway I don't know if this is clear or not. I can try to explain it better if needed! Thank you.
It's either you use the angle that they confided in him, or you could always go light on the details of things that he may not know fully about. He could know that two of the characters paired up, so to speak, but not know the specifics, so he simply states the fact that they did. In all reality, it depends on how integral the details that only other characters would know are to the story.
True, but the love story is part of what I like the most about the story ... Maybe I'll just have to accept that there's some stuff I just won't be able to tell...
A thought--and I realize that you're asking a different question. I've often asserted that third person can be as close as first person--that you can just flip the grammar. Why not try that? Write a scene, several scenes, whatever, in first person. Get them all polished up in first person. Then flip the grammar, making the absolute minimum changes to make them close third person.
A sample from Three-Day Town, by Margaret Maron. (One of the few first-person books at hand.) The original in first person: My husband thinks neon is tacky, and so far I haven’t found the right place to hang the blue guitar sign I stole when I was sixteen (and spent the summer working off), the bright multicolored OPEN TILL MIDNIGHT sign that came home with me one New Year’s Eve, or the pink-and-white WEDDING CHAPEL sign that Will and Amy gave us when we got married. I’m hoping that when the pond shelter is built and Dwight sees that back wall filled with colorful blinking and flashing lights that he’ll change his mind about neon and agree that this is exactly what’s been missing at our family get-togethers. Switched by me to third person: Dwight thought neon was tacky, and so Jane hadn’t found the right place to hang the blue guitar sign she stole when she was sixteen (and spent the summer working off), the bright multicolored OPEN TILL MIDNIGHT sign that came home with her one New Year’s Eve, or the pink-and-white WEDDING CHAPEL sign that Will and Amy gave Jane and Dwight when they got married. Jane was hoping that when the pond shelter was built and Dwight saw that back wall filled with colorful blinking and flashing lights that he’d change his mind about neon and agree that it was exactly what had been missing at their family get-togethers. The switch to third person makes a little bit of a change in the breathless confiding flavor of the original. But if you want to write third and you're finding it all but impossible, the exercise may be worth trying.
You only need to make your readers believe that this person A can know and retell things happening when he/she is not present. So how can this person know. Of course they (romantic couple) have told A about it. There may be letters sent between romantic couple. There may be a diary kept by one of romantic couple. There may be information from romantic couple to other persons (their brother/sister/mother/father or any person that is more likely to get that info. There might be the case that A visits the locations where these romantic things happend. A sat down on the bench just inside the gate. Yes you could se the tower of St:Something at distance as she wrote in her diary, she must have been wearing that yellow dress her sister told me about. She must have been sitting here when he stepped down those stairs and kissed her. You only need to make it believable that A knows, and you can also let us know that this is A's own picture we are seeing. At least initially but then you sort of forget to tell us it's A's picture an proceed as if he was there in reality. She must have been thrilled, the first time alone with B in that small hotellroom, C is kissing her neck. And here you continue, A's POV is not what he didn't see but what he thought happend. Good luck
I thought about that. There's this book I like that managed this really well, only since I'm not familiar with third person perspective I can't seem to pull it off quite as well. It's not as intimate as I'd want it to be. I kind of sort of gave up but I never thought about trying it like that... You know what I'm actually going to try it out, what do I have to lose. I've been wasting so much time already. Thanks a lot!
