Third-person omniscient POV in YA

Windcutter · Oct 11, 2011

I can't go a day without making a new thread, it seems.
I was reading the thread about first person vs third and then I thought: have you ever come across a YA novel that used true third-person omniscient narrative POV ("little did he know he'd be dead by Monday")? I can remember only one example, and it is specifically stylized to look like an old novel (and set in the Victorian period): A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
But what about contemporary settings? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that in YA. Most of what I come across is written in first person, and when there is third person, it's limited.

ceenindee · Oct 11, 2011

Hmm. I can think of some books that have multiple third person limited POVs, but I guess that's not quite the same?

Becca C. · Oct 11, 2011

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is third-person omniscient. And rather brilliant. I'm reading it right now.

I'm not sure that Lemony Snicket is a true omniscient narrator because, technically, he's a character narrating from an "I" kind of place. He has a sense of self. He is involved in the story, indirectly. He doesn't appear in the narrative, but family members of his do, and *kind of spoiler* I believe he's mentioned as being a part of VFD. Not sure he counts.

Windcutter · Oct 11, 2011

I can think of some books that have multiple third person limited POVs, but I guess that's not quite the same?

I think it's not quite the same, because the primary complaint about omni third seems be that it distances the reader from the character. And multiple POVs can happen with first person, too.

Oh yes. I forgot. Laini Taylor's Lips Touch Three Times also has some elements of that. At least the goblin story does, it goes like "she was blind to her own beauty" and "she would become this and that when she grows up, but she didn't know it."

Didn't Lemony Snicket have some kind of omniscient knowledge? Or was it that he told the story like a witness even though he wasn't there?

KateSmash · Oct 11, 2011

The only author I can think off that's recent is Terry Pratchett. And he doesn't exactly do contemporary settings. But I'm pretty sure his YA novels (Hat Full of Sky, I Shall Wear Midnight, Nation, etc) are still in his wonderful omniscient narration.

Becca C. · Oct 11, 2011

Windcutter said:
Didn't Lemony Snicket have some kind of omniscient knowledge? Or was it that he told the story like a witness even though he wasn't there?

He did have omniscient knowledge, that's true. He can "read minds" like an omniscient narrator, anyway.

Cyia · Oct 11, 2011

I was going to mention Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Lemony was recounting stories he'd been told, so he wasn't actually reading minds.

Georgina · Oct 12, 2011

I'm currently reading The Luxe by Anna Godbersen, which is third omni and quite solidly written.

I think some of the other Alloy novels are third omni also, but it's been a while since I looked at them.

Cheers.

Becca C. · Oct 12, 2011

Georgina said:
I'm currently reading The Luxe by Anna Godbersen, which is third omni and quite solidly written.

Right, it is. I actually love those books. Very, very entertaining!

missesdash · Oct 12, 2011

I wondered if people still enjoyed reading in third omni. I also wonder about the balance so that the author's voice doesn't overtake the story.

seems like it's best in MG and kids books

urbane · Aug 11, 2019

Bumping up this thread since I'm in the midst of trying to decide between the different POVs. A frequent comment on my current manuscript (intended as ominiscient although I suspect I didn't execute it too well as it's often confused as being third person limited) is that it's too 'telly'. Switching POV to first person would remedy the 'expo-telly' bits but would strangle the worldbuilding as it would only be from one person's POV (it's a YA).

P.S-Becca mentioned Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I thought that book was brilliant. Should probably re-read that

Elle. · Aug 11, 2019

I don't believe 1st POV or just one POV character would impede on world building, as usual it's all in the execution.

1) The Handmaid's Tale is 1st single POV and I personally don't feel that you lose on the world building.

2) You can have 1st POV multiple POVs as an alternative

3) I think sometimes author think readers need a lot more world building that is actually necessary (personal opinion).

Fuchsia Groan · Aug 11, 2019

If an omniscient narrator is basically there to feed me info about the world, I will tune out, unless it’s something self-satirizing like The Princess Bride. I want to experience a fantasy world through the minds of the characters. I want to be a bit unsettled and disoriented at first.

Laini Taylor must have done an amazing job, because I don’t remember a narrator lecturing at me in that book; I just remember the world and the characters. I’d definitely look to her as a model.

Most of the current YA fantasy I see is first person or limited third, though. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie Dao is a good example of how much worldbuilding you can do in limited third.

Sage · Aug 13, 2019

Your choices aren't omni vs. first-person. Why not use third-person limited? In that, you can change POVs at scene and chapter breaks, so you're not limited to a single POV.

I also don't think that a single POV limits the world-building, beyond that the audience can only experience the parts of the world that the POV character experiences (or hear about parts the character knows about). If you mean world-building in the sense that you want to show what's going on in different parts of the world that your POV character couldn't possibly know, then, yes, you're limited. But, then, are those parts really needed if they don't affect your POV character's story? Or are you able to have them affect it in a way you hadn't originally planned on.

(I would suggest, in the future, not bumping threads that are this old. If it's been 8 years since the topic was last mentioned, you're probably good to start a fresh thread)

Third-person omniscient POV in YA

Windcutter

ceenindee

Becca C.

Windcutter

KateSmash

this was a triumph

Becca C.

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

Georgina

Sushi at midnight

Becca C.

missesdash

You can't sit with us!

urbane

Elle.

Fuchsia Groan

Becoming a laptop-human hybrid

Sage

Supreme Guessinator