What is Outer Limited Point of View?

Unless you are a prolific reader, it is entirely likely that you have never read or have rarely read a novel written in the outer limited point of view. So, what is the outer limited point of view? The outer limited point of view is a point of view written from a completely objective standpoint. As the author, you are an outside observer. You don’t have access to the thoughts or feelings of your characters. You must determine these by observing your characters’ behavior and action and by listening to their dialogue. And if your characters don’t say it or express it in body language, you have no way of knowing what is going on inside their heads. It is this outside aspect that has given the outer limited point of view the nickname the “fly-on-the-wall” point of view. It has also been referred to as the “camera” or “videotape” point of view.  Regardless of what name it goes by, the outer limited point of view is by far the most difficult to write.

Why Outer Limited Point of View is Difficult to Write?

As previously mentioned, the outer limited point of view does not allow the writer to enter the mind or thoughts of the characters. The writer must reveal everything through dialogue, behavior and actions. So the challenge is getting your dialogue, behavior and actions to communicate exactly what you want to say or reveal about your characters. If you are used to writing your novels in first-person or inner limited point of view this is indeed challenging, and you will have to constantly fight the urge to reveal the thoughts of your characters.

The other challenge in writing in this point of view is being more careful about the words you choose, especially in revealing behaviors and actions. For instance, is something done nonhumanly or inhumanly.  The two words mean about the same thing, but their connotations are quite different. Because adjectives and adverbs can relay subjectivity, staying objective is hard at best.

Example of Outer Limited Point of View

The following is an example of the outer limited point of view:

A white Toyota Camry rounded the corner of Third and Broadway and parked in front of a sidewalk café. The woman inside the car killed the engine and pulled down her visor. She slid the cover off of the visor mirror and checked her lips and hair. As quickly as she had opened the mirror, she closed it and pushed the visor back into place. She quickly got out of the car and pressed the lock button on her remote, causing the lights of the car to blink.  After reaching the café, she was promptly seated at one of the tables beneath a dark gray umbrella.

A waiter came to her table. “Hello, my name is John. May I get you something to drink?”

She answered, “Yes, I would like an iced coffee, large. To go, please.”

“Okay, I’ll be back with that shortly,” the waiter said before he turned and walked back into the café.

After that, the woman pulled her cell phone out of her purse and began pushing buttons. 

A gentleman sitting two tables over got up from his seat and walked toward the woman’s table.  When he got close to the woman, he paused briefly, bent over and whispered something into her ear, after which he strode quickly away in the direction from which she had come.

The woman placed the cell phone back in her purse, threw a couple of bucks on the table and took the iced coffee from the waiter before setting off at a brisk pace in the same direction the gentleman had gone.

As you can see, the outer limited point of view prevents the author from being able to get into the minds of the characters. We have no idea what any of them were thinking or feeling. All we know is that a woman is now following a guy who whispered something into her ear, giving us a bit of a mystery to solve and a reason to continue reading. Although intriguing at times, the outer limited point of view can leave your readers feeling a bit removed from the story. And, preventing this from happening is the ultimate challenge for the novelist writing in the outer limited point of view.