Inspiring Question & Answer About Third Person Writing

Third person writing is quite simply a form of observational experience. It is talking “about” someone’s experiences, thoughts and movements. It is an external viewing of a person’s experience as opposed to having a first-hand, through my emotions and “walk-in-my-shoes” experience. Imagine when you are writing first-hand that you are sitting with a typewriter behind the eyeballs of the character that is talking; now with third person writing, you are sitting behind your own eyeballs, but this time you are looking out and writing about the character in front of you. You can guess what goes on in their mind; you can see how they do things; you can assume their reactions and emotions, but that is all it is. You can identify when someone is writing third person by the following pronouns: she, he, it; her, him; herself, himself, itself; and they, them, their, and themselves.
When writing in third person, and as mentioned before, you have to understand that bias is in your (the writer’s) perception of how the character you are writing about is experiencing and performing things. While you might say, “she nodded her head in agreement, obviously wanting to agree so that she would keep the peace,” know that this is your (the writer’s) perceptions and assumptions of what is happening. There is nothing wrong with this. In comparison, a first-person’s (the character’s) same account might be, “I nodded my head in agreement. I was terrified to say no.”
I see no difficulty in writing in third person. Many works of creative fiction and media articles write in this style. I have been reading third person for so long that sometimes it is easier to write in third person than first because I am used to words “talking” that way. I look forward to the opportunity to give the new assignment a chance at my creative prowess.