The close third-person perspective has some great advantages to recommend it. Obviously, it’s not all sunshine and flowers. Every perspective choice has its drawbacks, and make sure to come back for my next blog post for a run-down of those! Or, if first-person is more your speed, you can take a look at my detailed lists of pros and cons for that narrative choice! In the meantime though, I’m assuming you’re here to celebrate the great things about close third-person perspective. So, let’s dive in!

It’s a lot easier to describe your main character in a close third-person perspective

Because you’re not looking through the narrator’s eyes, it’s a lot easier to describe any key characteristics that you want a reader to be aware of. Whereas, in first-person, you need to find a good reason for the character to be thinking about what they look like. You still want to watch out for excessive description, and consider how much a reader really needs to know about your character’s appearance. But, if you do want readers to know some highlights, you can drop it in pretty casually and it won’t stand out in the same way.

It’s potentially less jarring to switch perspectives using this narrative style

If you want to move between perspectives during the course of your story, close third-person perspective can make that easier. Readers are less tied to the point of view of any one character, so shifting to a new one may not feel like as much of a wrench. Another nice thing about writing multiple perspectives in third-person, rather than first-person, is that you don’t need to worry as much about having a distinctive narrative voice.

In first-person, it can be challenging to make each point of view character sound completely distinct in their narration. In third-person, you don’t need to! They obviously need to feel like distinct characters, no matter what perspective you’re writing in, but you can convey that difference through the way they speak, act and react. You don’t need to worry as much about writing the whole section as if you’re a different person.

Close third-person makes it easier to conceal information from the reader

Obviously, in close third-person, you’re still in a distinct character’s perspective. But even that small difference – moving from in their head to on their shoulder – can free you up to play with information that the reader has, versus information that the character has. You can show the character reacting to something, but shift focus before fully revealing what they’re reacting to. Or have them only half-notice something while clueing readers into the fact that it’s something they should be paying attention to.

It’s not something you want to overuse, but some strategic choices to play with the balance of information between the character and the reader can have great effect!

Do you have a point of view preference?

If you’re a fan of third-person, what do you like best about it? Share your thoughts in the comments!