Examples of Writing in Third Person

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Writing inthird personis writing from the third-person point of view, or outsider looking in, and uses pronouns like he, she, it, or they. It differs from thefirst person, which uses pronouns such as I and me, and from thesecond person, which uses pronouns such as you and yours.

Writing in the third-person provides flexibility and objectivity. In fiction writing it enables the narrator to be all-knowing.The personal pronouns used in third-person writing are he, she, it, they, him, her, them, his, her, hers, its, their,andtheirs.

Third Person Writing in Literature

  • "He is just what a young man ought to be," said she, "sensible, good humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!—so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!" - Jane Austen,Pride and Prejudice
  • “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” - George Orwell,1984
  • “Their commander was a middle-aged corporal—red-eyed, scrawny, tough as dried beef, sick of war. He had been wounded four times—and patched up, and sent back to war.” - Kurt Vonnegut,Slaughterhouse-Five
  • “It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets.” - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton,Paul Clifford
  • "He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for the train.He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him." - Ernest Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
  • “She walks in beauty, like the night
    Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
    And all that's best of dark and bright
    Meet in her aspect and her eyes”
    - Lord Byron, "She Walks in Beauty"
  • “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill

An Objective Point of View

The first person point of view might read "I never make mistakes so I never learn."

The second person would read "You never make mistakes so you never learn."

See how this differs from the third person, which would read "He never makes mistakes so he never learns" and is much more objective.

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Using Action Writing

ByGinny WiehardtUpdated May 12, 2017

Action writing has been around since the beginning of fiction writingsimplybecause people (whatever their age or their income) want to be entertained. Action writing is like going to the movies:allyou have to do is sit back, eat your popcorn and let someone else do the work for you.

Example of Action Writing

John LeCarre is the master of action writing. Let's see how John Le Carre handles the final action scene in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold":

Leamus was blinded, he turned his head away, wrenching wildly at Liz's arm. Now she was swinging free; he thought she had slipped and he called frantically, still drawing her upwards. He could see nothing -- only a mad confusion of color dancing in his eyes. Then came the hysterical wail of sirens, orders frantically shouted. Half kneeling astride the wall he grasped both her arms in his, and began dragging her to him inch by inch, himself on the verge of falling.

Notice how Le Carré allows us to see both whatAlecis doing and what he sees. Part of what builds the tension of the scene is the fact that he adheres to Alec's point of view. It also makes it easier to describe if you're telling the story fromthird person limited.

This way you don't have to worry about describing everything that's happening in a scene; only yourprotagonist's slice of it.

How to Write a Snappy Opening

Here's a template for grabbing the reader right from the beginning:

  1. Introducing acharacter. Don't start by describing what a character looks like. Instead, make sure the character is "doing something" from the very moment you introduce them.
  2. Open with dialogue. An engaging line of dialogue is a perfect way to launch your writing.
  3. Start with a bang! Don't blow up a car but "make something happen."
  4. Don't fret the opening. If you can't come up with a killer opening, let it go. As the piece unfolds the opening will become apparent.

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