20.15: Third Person Omniscient

Writing Excuses

Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

Fiction, Business, Careers

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With today’s episode, we are continuing our discussion on proximity by focusing on another POV: third person omniscient. In omniscient POV, the narrator can see all and move into any character's head. It's sometimes seen as old fashioned, like Jane Austen. But writers like John Scalzi and Liza Palmer are using it to good effect as a way of exerting control over exactly what the audience sees in ways that are similar to a filmmaker. So why is it so hard to do well? And what does it allow the writer to do that no other voice does?

Homework: Describe a street scene where your main character is walking down the street. Move us through this scene through the perspective of 5-6 bystanders observing this happening. Focus on sensory details: what is everybody seeing/ smelling/ looking at? And how does this establish where your main character is in the scene?

P.S. Our Writing Excuses cruise is over 60% sold out! Secure your spot today at www.writingexcuses.com/retreats

Sign up for our newsletter

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Chuck Tingle. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community!

Our Sponsors:
* Visit kinsta.com to get your first month free when you sign up today!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, guess what? The 2025 writing excuses cruise is over 50% sold out. During this week-long masterclass,
0:07.6	I'm going to be leading writers like yourself through a series of workshops designed to give you the tools to take your writing to the next level.
0:14.3	Space is limited, but there is still time to secure your spot. We're going to be sailing out of Los Angeles from September 18th
0:21.8	through 26th. Regardless of where you are in your writing journey, this event is your opportunity
0:27.3	to learn new skills while exploring the beautiful Mexican Riviera. Whether you're revising a story,
0:33.4	reworking a character arc, or revitalizing your plot, you'll leave more confident in your current
0:38.2	story and bolstered by a new set of friends. Join us on board at writingexcuses.com slash retreats.
0:46.6	This episode of writing excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends.
0:52.1	If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit www.
0:56.2	www. patreon.com slash writing excuses.
1:01.8	Season 20, episode 15.
1:05.8	This is writing excuses.
1:08.3	Third person, omniscient.
1:10.3	She's Mary Robinette Coal.
1:12.7	Their Dongwan song.
1:14.0	He's Dan.
1:15.6	She's Aaron.
1:17.4	I'm confused.
1:22.8	We are continuing our section talking about proximity.
1:26.9	We're talking about how close the perspective is to the characters of your story.
1:33.1	And we are finally to my favorite of these, which is third person omniscient.
1:39.1	I love omniscient because I feel like it gives the author so many tools to play with as they are telling the story that they want to tell.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.