I've a short story. It's still rough draft. I started it in third but then I kept tripping over a simple problem that first person seemed to alleviate. But I think I'd rather the subsequent draft done in third person.
The viewpoint character is a teenage boy. The other characters are Lucy, his 5 year old sister. His mother. A nameless bankrobber who hijacks thier car. Well there is a multidimensional being that Lucy names Whirlwind. To there are the denizens of the parallel universe they end up in, not quiet human, including one that seems like the boy's father...
Anyway, my question is, how is the boy's mother and father refered to in third person limited?
In first person, that's easy. Mom. Dad. But in third person, it becomes "his mother" or "Kev's mother". Very clunky. But for the 3PL narrator to be so familar as Mom it doesn't feel right.
But then, if I used his mother's name (let's say Carol), since in third person we are tapping into the viewpoint characters thought, he would not think of his mother as Carol.
Thoughts?
Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :
Since this is OSC's site, I'll use an example from one of his books, Shadow Puppets.
Whenever Peter was the POV character, the narrative referred to his parents as Father and Mother. Whenever anyone else was the POV character, the narrative referred to Peter's parents by their given names.
Hope that helps.
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
I use Mom and Dad or Mother and Father, depending upon how close the relationship is and how deeply penetrated I am. If I am using particularly light penetration, I might even say her Mom or her Mother. I don't use first names, though, it is a violation of viewpoint, IMO
Posted by ChrisOwens (Member # 1955) on :
Ah, I need to grab Shadow Puppet's of the shelf and look at it again.
Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :
This question sounds pretty familliar, I just read the same thing Uncle Orson's Writing Class last week!