The 100 Writing Tips

6 ☢ How To Write in 3rd Person

6 ☢ How To Write in 3rd Person

Many of you are probably thinking 'I know how to write in 3rd person. It's easy.' And yes, we understand that you can write very well, but this tip is to help improve your writing skills and to make your fanfiction even better.

If any of you are entering the wattys with your fanfics and need to go back and edit, then hopefully this tip can help you increase your chances of winning.

Which Tense?

Make sure that your tense stays the same throughout. You can write 3rd person in either the present or past tenses, but I myself find it easier to write in past tense for 3rd person and present for 1st person. However, the tense is up to you so write in whichever one you find more comfortable. The steps below will be written in past tense.

Step 1

Let's start off with a simple statement, for example: ' "Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy said.'

This statement is very simple with little detail. If you really want to impress your readers with your writing, then use more adventurous vocabulary. For example, instead of 'said' perhaps use words such as 'yelled' 'stated' or in this case, 'chanted.'

[Changes within each step will be shown in bold]

Step 2

Now we have: '"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy chanted.'

To improve this further, we need to think about the setting. In this scene, Bellamy is surrounded by delinquents as he stands by the campfire.

Step 3

If we describe the action happening around him, this is what we get: '"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy chanted. The campfire roared beside him as the delinquents surrounding him repeated his chant.'

This is a good medium length sentence, however more detail can be added to make the setting more lifelike and 3D to the reader. For example, chant can be changed into 'mantra.' You can find these synonyms in thesauruses, or if you're online, thesaurus.com.

Step 4

We have: If we describe the action happening around him, this is what we get: '"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy chanted. The campfire roared beside him as the delinquents surrounding him repeated his mantra.'

Now we can describe how Bellamy chants. This applies to other scenes where you can explain how characters say something, for example, 'Clarke whispered gently.'

We also need to take into account the expression on Bellamy's face and his emotions, although these are not significant for this paragraph.

Step 5

After the improvements, we have: '"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy powerfully chanted, his features distorted by a gaze of power and influence. The campfire roared beside him as the delinquents surrounding him repeated his mantra.'

Now we can focus on Bellamy's actions. He's not standing still while he's chanting these words, so we need to make the sentence seem less static by describing some movement. In this case, we could describe Bellamy as pacing around the fire as he raises a fist into the air.

Step 6

Now, the sentence is: '"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy powerfully chanted, his features distorted by a gaze of power and influence. He paced around the roaring campfire, raising a triumphant fist in the air as the delinquents surrounding him repeated his mantra.'

We can still make improvements to this by adding more description. Maybe describe the colours of the bonfire and some of the criminals closest to Bellamy. We can also change a few words such as 'repeated' to more sophisticated words (thesaurus time).

Step 7

'"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy powerfully chanted, his features distorted by a gaze of power and influence. He paced around the roaring, crimson studded campfire, raising a triumphant fist in the air as the delinquents surrounding him echoed his mantra. A girl two meters away from him screamed the words at the top of her lungs, her sharp features making her eyes appear like two dark slits.'

Remember the setting is night, so we can improve this by explaining that the girl's eyes are like slits due to the darkness of the night.

Also, think of new and exciting ways to describe the dark and the night. Instead of saying 'her sharp features making her eyes appear like two dark slits due to the darkness,' perhaps use personification, similes, and metaphors to make your sentences more sophisticated and unique.

Step 8

'"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy powerfully chanted, his features distorted by a gaze of power and influence. He paced around the roaring, crimson studded campfire, raising a triumphant fist in the air as the delinquents surrounding him echoed his mantra. A girl two meters away from him screamed the words at the top of her lungs, her sharp features making her eyes appear like two dark slits due to the thick blanket of darkness suffocating her fragile body.'

Now all we need to do is a few touch ups to the words and sentence structure where needed. If you do not go back to touch up the paragraph once you have finished writing it, then always make sure that you go back and edit the chapter when you have finished writing it.

In this case, I used 'dark' and 'darkness' in the same sentence, and to make your sentences more sophisticated, this should not be done. Always use different and varying words in a sentence. If you use the same word, then the paragraph doesn't flow as easily.

Finished Product

'"Whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want," Bellamy powerfully chanted, his features distorted by a gaze of power and influence. He paced around the roaring, crimson studded campfire, raising a triumphant fist in the air as the delinquents surrounding him echoed his mantra. A girl two meters away from him screamed the words at the top of her lungs, her sharp features making her eyes appear like two shadowed slits due to the thick blanket of darkness suffocating her fragile body.'

And that is how you can write professionally in 3rd person! We hope this helped, and we'll be back soon with how to write in 1st person, as well as original ideas for your fanfiction.

Thank you for reading,

~The Admins