Is Deep Third an Actual POV?

Photo by Thiago Matos

Today’s post is by editor Tiffany Yates Martin (@FoxPrintEd). Join her on Wednesday, July 12 for the online class Write Powerfully in Deep Third POV.

I was on a writer’s forum recently where an author asked for examples of books told from a deep third-person point of view. Among the many lively, helpful, and some not-so-helpful comments was one writer who opined that there was no such thing as deep third-person POV—that it was simply limited third with more character insight.

My first reaction was to rebuff the idea, but as I started thinking about it, I could see their point.

Deep third-person POV is a strange little hybrid. A mix of limited third and first person, it plunges readers directly into the lived experience of the point-of-view character, using the third-person he/she pronouns while writing with the immediacy and intimacy of first person.

It’s often seen as a relatively new point of view, within the last 40 years or so, and is wildly popular in the current market, likely because consumers of story and entertainment are used to being fully immersed in story worlds, thanks to first-person video games, reality TV, and of course starring in their own everyday dramas on social media.

Yet deep third has strong roots in a time-honored literary device called free indirect discourse, which has been used by authors of the ilk of Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, Flannery O’Connor and many more, going back hundreds of years.

What is free indirect discourse?

In free indirect discourse, sometimes called free indirect thought, an author will allow the narrative told in another point of view—generally omniscient or limited third—to slip directly into the thoughts of a character as if we’re thinking them with her, as in this excerpt from Austen’s Persuasion, where we flit into Captain Wentworth’s direct assessment of Anne:

He had thought her wretchedly altered, and in the first moment of appeal, had spoken as he felt. He had not forgiven Anne Elliot. She had used him ill, deserted and disappointed him; and worse, she had shewn a feebleness of character in doing so, which his own decided, confident temper could not endure. She had given him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over-persuasion. It had been weakness and timidity.

He had been most warmly attached to her, and had never seen a woman since whom he thought her equal; but, except from some natural sensation of curiosity, he had no desire of meeting her again. Her power with him was gone for ever.

Notice that this isn’t the narrator reporting on Wentworth’s thoughts, as is the convention of omniscient and limited third; instead we’ve dipped directly into his inner life and the narrative is colored by it, stating as fact what is actually his subjective perspective (“shewn a feebleness of character,” “his own decided, confident temper,” “weakness and timidity,” “her power with him was gone forever”).

It’s tempting to call this head hopping, and technically it does violate the “rules” of limited and third-person points of view, which presuppose a narrator voice that is separate from the character, observing and commenting and reporting on it. In omniscient’s case it’s every character, and in limited third it’s only one at a time.

But if handled skillfully, these “slips” are seamless, blending into the narrative while opening the window wider to the character’s inner life and inviting the reader inside for a moment.

How deep third differs from other third-person POVs

In some ways this is how you can think of deep third. It not only throws the window open wider; it reaches out and yanks the reader through it so you’re in the character’s head, behind their eyes, privy to their deepest thoughts and reactions. In essence you are the character, knowing what they know, feeling what they feel, directly experiencing what they do.

The key differences to remember when using this voice is that unlike omniscient, but in common with limited third, it sticks to the perspective of a single character per scene or section.

And in contrast to both omniscient and limited, the narrator is not a separate entity that can comment on things happening within the character’s purview that they are not aware of. As with first person, if your character doesn’t know it, see it, feel it, hear it, or experience it, it can’t be on the page. The character is the reader’s avatar and we are them, sharing their background, predilections, quirks, orientation, failings, etc. Their blind spots are our blind spots. Their biases color our perception too.

I like to think of POV as a vessel on the ocean that is your character(s)’ psyche. In omniscient the vessel can sail every inch of the ocean simultaneously and observe everything happening on the surface, as well as use its powerful radar to monitor what’s going on beneath anywhere in the sea—with every character. Limited third is a vessel with the same capabilities, but which can monitor only one sector of the ocean—one character—at a time.

Deep third becomes a submarine, sinking deep into the depths of its single harbor to live in the underwater world of one sole character, its periscope always up to also experience its surroundings on the surface.

So does deep third actually exist?

The short answer: yes. If you choose this all-access-pass POV, you are committing to casting the entire story, or at least each deep-third-POV character’s storyline, fully into their direct, firsthand perspective and voice.

Remember: While omniscient and limited can incorporate aspects of deep third in revealing a character’s direct thoughts (through the counterintuitively named device of free indirect discourse), these points of view still feature a separate narrator voice, a removed observer.

Deep third does not.

It removes that middleman between the reader and the character’s experience. The other two most popular third-person points of view may be able to share the character’s thoughts, but it’s only through deep third that we experience their full direct perspective firsthand. Despite the third-person pronouns, it’s a story narrated by the character living it, from their immediate experience.

This tricky POV can be difficult to master partly for this reason: because it’s not a natural perspective humans can ever take, short of body snatching. (Please don’t body-snatch.)

But used well, deep third can be one of the most intimate, engaging, revealing ways to invite readers to viscerally share your character’s world and draw them deeply into the story.

Note from Jane: If you want to explore this topic in-depth, join us on Wednesday, July 12, for the online class Write Powerfully in Deep Third POV.