Third Person Omniscient: The Dead Narrative Voice That Still Outsells You
A new zombie meme is making the rounds in writer forums, oldpub workshops, and literary agent panels.
“Don’t write in third person omniscient. Today’s readers can’t handle it!”
Screencap; @cairoasmith on X
Maybe you’ve heard the deadpub smears againt omniscient narration:
“It’s confusing.”
“It feels old-fashioned.”
“You’ll never sell it.”
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Supposedly, the narrative voice that carried The Lord of the Rings, Dune, and Watership Down is now a liability. Because—so oldpub would have us believe—modern readers, particularly younger ones, can’t fathom it.
Image: J.R.R. Tolkien
But the idea that readers can't comprehend omniscient narration isn’t just false—it’s insultingly false. In fact, you could be forgiven for calling it an instance of industry gaslighting: “Third person omniscient is dead! So lower your standards, water down your prose, do what the market says, and maybe you’ll get scraps from the Big Five’s table.”
But here’s what everybody’s missing: Omniscient narrative voice didn’t die.
It was murdered.
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Back in the 1980s, the fiat came down through the writing workshops from oldpub gatekeepers: “Third person limited or first person only.”
They didn’t anathematize omniscient voice because it didn’t work. They did it because editors thought readers were too stupid to follow multiple POVs or narrative threads without handholding.
And writers, desperate to get past the velvet rope for a pat on the head, folded.
That generation of deadpub editors has since retired. But the damage was done. A new crop of MFA grads came up believing omniscient voice was not just unfashionable; it was grave error.
What they conveniently ignored was that the books that defined modern genre fiction used third person omniscient. More to the point, those “old-fashioned” books still sell, get the film and TV adaptations that today’s best sellers struggle to land, and influence every movie and game writer.
The truth isn’t that audiences can’t read third person omniscient, it’s that publishers can’t edit it, and agents don’t know how to pitch it. Meanwhile, oldpub authors are too afraid of losing face with their masters to attempt it.
But let’s have no illusions. Writing omniscient voice isn’t easy. Nor is it supposed to be. It demands mastery of plotting and structure—and perhaps most daunting for new authors, the willingness to forgo the easy thrills of surprise. Third person omniscient is not a crutch for authors who can’t manage a single POV; it’s a tool for those who want to elevate the story above any one character’s field of vision.
Omniscient voice lets you interweave subtext, juxtapose motives, and fold in dramatic irony that turns good stories into timeless ones. It allows the narrator to comment on, guide and shape the reader experience much as an oral storyteller would. Done right, the richness it adds can more than make up for the risk of confusion.
So should you write in third person omniscient?
It depends.
If you can do it well; proceed. If you can’t; learn. But if your only objection is that some anonymous agent said, “You’ll never sell it,” ask yourself who that advice is really serving.
The market is shifting. Readers are hungry for books that don’t condescend to them. Second-screening NPCs may binge on safe, generic A.I. slop. But bold storytelling will attract serious readers. And they’ll be highly appreciative.
If you’ve got a tale that deserves a sweeping perspective; that no one character’s perceptions can contain—write it that way.
The industry doesn’t need more timid voices aping Joss Whedon dialogue.
It needs authors who aren’t afraid to move forward by going back.
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