Gumshoe Paladin opening (1500)

[tinkerdan]

Third Person Omniscient
What Is the Definition of Third Person Omniscient Point of View?
How to Write From Third Person Omniscient and Third Person Limited Viewpoints

 

[The Big Peat]

I'm not an expert on PoV, but would say it isn't difficult to find that sort of utterance from a 1st PoV narrator about another character in published fiction. I found examples in Lindsay Davies, Bernard Cornwell and Julian Rathbone pretty quickly. If if is a flaw, it is a common and seemingly accepted one.

I have to say, after careful reflection, I don't see it. People give their opinions about other people's emotional states of mind as if they were facts all the time. It doesn't mean they are omniscient; either that the emotional state of mind is very obvious from their actions, or they go around giving opinions as facts anyway. I can see there are potential pitfalls in having a narrator do it but it certainly isn't new nor does it seem unrealistic.

I may be wrong though and while the line is question is probably a moot point now, the general principle of the thing isn't moot to the other 70,000 odd words in the book. If anyone can point me to some definite dos and don'ts on the score I would be grateful.

I also had a giggle about the giant manhood. I'm pretty convinced manhood isn't the right word here because of the connotations. (I'm not being childish or facetious, btw)

pH

Wellllll, those myths do contain certain homoerotic elements, and the celts did like the odd priapic deity, and I am mixing it with the hyper-sexualised atmosphere of noir, soooooo...

Yeah, should probably change that. Had completely not spotted it at all. And now I'm laughing too.

 

[HareBrain]

If anyone can point me to some definite dos and don'ts on the score I would be grateful.

And I would be very surprised.

Some first-person narrators not only state opinions as fact, they outright lie. (Though then the author should give clues for the reader to pick that up.)

I guess the only "do", and not a definite one, is that if you want to give the reader an easy time of it, keep it consistent, otherwise you're wandering towards the more literary angle of being interested in form as well as story. No bad thing in my book, but some readers won't expect or want it.