#EdenLit - Club Meeting April 9, 2012 @ 7pm EST

Ok guys lets get down the the new perspective we are looking at this month.

Third Person Narrative is probably the most flexible and widely used of all the perspectives. It is the perspective that is most familiar to readers and to beginning authors. Using this perspective can take refinement to remain fresh and exciting. To really stand out the third person perspective should be studied and understood mainly because it is so common!

When an author chooses to use third person perspective the characters are referred to as he, she, it, and they but never I, we or you.
Now keep in mind, that this means the narrator never refers to the characters as I, we or you, but the characters may refer to themselves and/or other characters using these words. In this perspective the narrator is a third person recounting the tale rather than being personally involved in it as it is unfolding.
The narrator keeps the continuity of the story going and introduces the scenes with information that the characters may not know or be privy to.
The narrator can convvey thoughts and feelings of the characters as the omniscient narrator or the narrator can know everything about the 'focal character(s)' but nothing about the others. Leaving the secondary characters as unknown or even unknowable can be tricky but can lend spice to the story and these characters are often the focal point of 'fan fiction' type writings. These secondary characters can be the focal point of spin off stories/books ashe author explores their motivations and desires.

In the third person perspective the author/narrator can describe the thoughts and feelings of one or more of the characters in a subjective manner. On the other hand the author/narrator can let the characters think and speak for themselves in a more objective manner.
The author should remember that the narrator is needed to help the reader, who is essentially deaf and blind to the actions that are occurring. For example, if there is a rustle of a skirt that has meaning in the story then the narrator may need to step in and explain the significance or describe the sound more vividly.

The author can use third person narrative to delve into the thoughts, memories, feelings and motives of many characters showing the real complexities of a story and fleshing it out, so to speak. The author can have an omniscient narrator that knows the first person perspective of the characters but the author MUST be aware of when the change in voice occurs. This is a common mistake of new writers, in that they can see the whole picture but cannot decide how to begin describing it. The easiest way is to find a perspective and then stick to it!

Any questions?

To conclude our first half of the meeting I am goint to award Destri the $25 gift card for her excellent example of pure second person perspective.

Now lets see.....we have a few new faces to award the second card to. Hmmmm how shall I decide? Randomly? Ok let's do that....the first new member of our club to post about how they loved the meeting tonight gets a $25 GC

I will be posting an assignment thread on the forum after the meeting detailing a recap of the meeting, a short form of the lesson and whatever topics we choose. I'll also include a tutorial of how to post for the club and how we award GCs.