What is OMNISCIENT POV? | Omniscient narrator examples
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Are you writing an omniscient narrator? Or is your book third person limited? Let's look at seven novels written in the omniscient POV to figure out what the difference is-and why omniscient is good, but head hopping ain't so great.
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2:12 Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (amzn.to/3fgyvzi)
6:21 The Diviners by Libba Bray (amzn.to/336We2F)
7:55 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (amzn.to/3nmO3G1)
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11:14 Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (amzn.to/3K94boi)
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15:36 A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (amzn.to/3qlX44c)
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What are your favorite books with omniscient narrators??
Dune is probably the best example of third-person omniscient writing that I've ever read, and I love Lord of the Rings more than most things that exist. Herbert really used it to his advantage to build tension in places that limited simply couldn't. There's a betrayal that the reader is told about way before it happens, and the two movie adaptations really illustrate the power of the omniscient narrator.
The 1984 one kept it simple and everyone got cheesy voiceovers. The tension was built in the same way as the book, and it leaves you constantly wondering like "is it going to happen here? now?" In the new movie, the action comes completely out of nowhere from a character mostly unknown to the viewer. We never got the character's feelings; we never got the teasing post-hoc information about how it all shook out; and, most importantly, we never got the same delicious irony of just how many times other characters almost picked up on what was happening.
My current WIP is an absolute mess of experimental POVs. Some key scenes are in omniscient where the four main characters are all in the same space, two pairs of characters can telepathically communicate, and no one is honest with each other. It's genuinely very fun fine-tuning these scenes, and the story would be unrecognizable and boring if we hadn't been convinced by Herbert to at least give omniscient a try.
Those are such excellent examples! It's awesome that you're experimenting with POVs. I think that's the best way to master it - just write and figure it out, instead of obsessing over rules. I can only imagine how fun it would be to write an omniscient POV when two characters can telepathically communicate - love it!
I have a soft spot for omniscient POV. Since limited third is so prevalent, I always thought new authors just grew up on that POV and didn’t get omniscient. Never occurred to me it was pushed by agents and publishers. BTW, one of my favorite contemporary omniscient POVs is The Golem and the Jinni which everyone should check out!
I love it too! And thank you so much for the rec - I haven't read that!!
There is something charming about the narrator popping in to give a little boost to the story perspective and hear their true authentic voice before this vanish into the shadows and we zoom back down to our protagonist. But i agree it needs to be intentional and done well and not too frequently so as to feel like a yo-yo as we zoom our readers in and out. But yes, I like a bit of omincient :)
I couldn't agree more! Charming is the perfect word for it. :)
"Return of the Omniscient" would be a good fantasy book title.
right?!
I’ve been thinking. Lisa Kleypas does some interesting things as narrator. It reads like a reasonably close narrator, with both main characters as the “close” person. But occasionally a third or fourth characters thoughts are added in.
I think that she writes in omniscient, not third person limited.
I love when you do craft videos! I still have so much to learn. (Also the editing was top tier) 👌🏽
Thanks so much, Matty!! :)
You're a rock star! Thank you for this. I wouldn't have guessed that publishers, or agents for that matter, would be pushing limited 3rd person. But now that you've mentioned it, I don't know why this surprises me.
The writerly nerd inside is squealing with excitement at this craft/workshop video!
If I'm being honest I've avoided writing an omniscient narrator because I didn't understand the rules. And would have worried about having some third limited scenes. Appreciate you for going deep and giving us such solid examples.
The Book Thief and Charlotte's Web are two of my favorites with omniscient narrators.
Keep being awesome and helping us level up.
Thanks so much, Barrett!! I had a lot of fun making it.#nerd
Those are both such great examples (that I wish I'd included, along with Hitchhiker's Guide...sigh). But yeah, Death as a narrator was so brilliant, and an especially good example of an omniscient narrator who IS a character in the story but (arguably) doesn't affect it? If I recall?
Anyway, thank you for watching! Hope you're having a great weekend!
I love this explanation of omniscient POV! I think it would be SO fun to write and explore with a narrator but it is definitely intimidating to write! Crazy Rich Asians is such an unexpected example of omniscient - you don’t usually see it in rom coms!! I pulled the same quote for a video as well - it’s such a great passage :) I loved all your examples and the comparisons of the different ways to write modern omniscient!!
Thanks so much, Nicole! So happy it was helpful - and yes, I love that little snippet from CRA!! :)
I loved it! For so long I'd confused omniscient pov with head hopping because so many writing craft books that attempted to explain it said it was basically the same thing.
But as I'm watching your video and seeing/hearing the examples you give I'm thinking it's more like a version on "can the camera see it" (Jeff Gerke's easy way to tell the difference between showing vs telling that I've probably mentioned half a dozen times already. 😅) but in this sense it's like the opening scenes/scene openers of movies and TV. And I wonder if that's what's influencing people when they write this way, that they're seeing their stories as movies and write them to fit?
Thank you for the video!
I hope your writing/schedule is going well and that your weekend will be great. ❤
Shabbat Shalom and good luck with everything. 😁
I'm so glad this helped, K!! The camera question is perfect. And I think you're right - a lot of people just don't understand what this POV is, even if they think they do. I hope you have a great weekend too!!
I have always enjoyed omniscient pov and am happy it is making a comeback.
Same here!
I really started thinking about omniscient narrator with Cressida Crowell’s Wizard of Once series. It’s definitely a new take on the narrative type.
I was not confused about this to start with. I could’ve clicked off the video at the point in which you said it was okay to do so, because I understood what you said up to that point, and even had permission to do so in the event that my confusion was minimal and thus my understanding was intact. Which it was.
But then I decided to carry on anyway.
Not only did I realize I was a lot more confused than I thought, but you clarified it in a way I’ve never been able to UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR SAID CLARIFICATION.
You’re truly a master at this, Michelle. I need you to know that I am thankful for your wisdom, without end. And you’re one of the good ones with your generosity in how you dole out that wisdom.
Thank you.
I finally got my head around this by hearing someone say that, essentially, a separate narrator of sorts was telling the story with access to everything, almost like a deity. Lol.
And I love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Good Omens, (most of Terry and Neil's works are on the omniscient side, I think) and, more recently, the Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab.
Almost like a deity - exactly!
Oh gosh, those are such great examples. Honestly, I'm pretty ashamed I didn't include Hitchhiker's - it's one of my all time favs, and I didn't even think of it!
Really loved the way you walked through these examples! Omniscient POV is not generally my preference as a reader or a writer, but it has a ton of value that tends to be overlooked (guilty as charged). Thanks for making this!
Thanks so much, I really appreciate that! :)
Thank you for the video.
I do like the occasional omniscient narrator, the books I'm reading right now have them, by Martina Cole.
Nice!! I really enjoy it when it's done well.
Hmm... is it safe to say that omniscient narration should be used sparingly to avoid "head-hopping"? For example, that passage from Crazy Rich Asians--I can't imagine that style of narration is upheld throughout the entire novel. I haven't read the book, but it seems like it would be jarring to readers to have three different characters' thoughts in one paragraph throughout the entire book. So I guess choosing when to use it to move your story forward or create tension is the key?
With that being said, do any novels actually use 100% omniscient narrator? It just seems from these examples that its used for exposition here and there but then you would eventually have to jump back into a character's POV and return to limited omniscience. You know what I mean? Lol, trying to make sense of all this.
Would it be accurate to say an omniscient narrator could be compared to a person who watched a movie and then explained said movie and its events to someone in great detail? If the omniscient narrator knows all and is not a character in the story, it would be like someone who watched a movie and then had to summarize the events, how characters felt and acted, and why certain events were super important and filled with meaning. Would this be a good comparison?
Quick question! Does Tolkien do telling WITHIN his showing??? Is that possible??!
Ah o. I heard adverbs. 😅