Using Inner Limited Point of View in Your Novel

What is inner limited point of view? The inner limited point of view is the same as first person except that the grammatical third person is used instead of the pronoun “I.”  Just as with first person, the author picks one character through which the story is viewed; but instead of using the intimate pronoun “I,” the author uses pronouns such as “she” or “he.”  Here is an example from The Crystal Cavern by Hannah Alexander of what first person in the inner limited point of view looks like.

The sudden brilliance of a flash of lightning shocked Sable to a halt at the gate to Noah Erwin’s front yard. The storm split the clouds with its violence. She peered through the broken darkness at the outline of her friend’s unkempt home.

She had to will away a cowardly shiver. Why hadn’t Noah left any lights on in the house? Why hadn’t he come out onto the front porch to greet her, the way he always did?

She unlatched the gate and pulled it open, wincing at the rusty creak of hinges. “Noah, I’m here!” she called with false bravado, stepping carefully along the flagstone path. Maybe the lightning had knocked out the power, the way it usually did out here when there was storm.

 If you’ll notice, especially in the second paragraph, we are in Sable’s head.  We know the questions she is asking herself.  Unlike multiple character viewpoint in which the reader is allowed inside the mind of a different character in each scene, inner limited viewpoint requires that the author stick with one viewpoint character throughout the entire novel. 

The inner limited viewpoint is used the most in situations where the author wants to tell the story through a single viewpoint character without the level of intimacy or emotional involvement afforded by the first person viewpoint.  For instance, inner limited viewpoint has been used for crime stories told from the perspective of the criminal. 

In her book Mastering Point of View, Sherri Szeman provides of list of conditions under which inner limited should be used.  They are as follows:

·         You want to limit your perspective to only one character’s inner, psychological life while presenting only the exterior, outer lives of the other characters.

·         You’re more comfortable writing in the grammatical third person.

·         You believe that your readers would be more comfortable reading the grammatical third person.

·         You want to increase the emotional distance between you and the character or between the character and the readers while maintaining access to a character’s inner life.

·         You want to increase the emotional distance between the character and the readers while still revealing that character’s inner life. 

Viewpoint is important in how your story is told.