POV question

[crystalwizard]

Is it possible to write a story in 1st person Omniscient?

[darkbow]

I think it's possible to tell a story using any narrative form. Not that all of us can pull it off. Might take a particular writer with particular skill to pull it off.

[Keralen]

Sure, if you're God. Or dead.

[jsrchrt]

Personally i think the two would be mutually exclusive. 1st person is told from the POV charaters senses, either in the present or past tense. Omniscient is told from all characters sense, with access to everyone's thoughts & fellings. Unless the 1st person narrator is god or not part of the action, I would see dificulty presenting that. (Unless your POV character can read minds of course.)

[Chaos Perpetual]

If it's coming from one person's perspective, there should be some reason why this character is aware of the thoughts and actions of other people, whether they're in the same room or halfway across the world.

[RLCopple]

What I would label as first person omniscient is simply a person telling another person their story. The first person narrator knows what is going to happen, and has probably figured some things out, but they aren't omniscient as if going into another person's head. But such stories might have wording in it like, "If I had known then what I know now, I would have never gone into that bar." So the first person narrator already knows what will happen, and maybe has deduced what other people were thinking (based on later actions), but is sitting down with a cup of coffee telling the reader the story, as opposed to it all happening "in the moment" where the first person narrator doesn't know what is about to happen next.

[John M. Whalen]

There's only way one you could do it. Write a story from the POV of some type of creature who can enter the minds, and feel the sensations of all the characters. The creature moves chapter by chapter or scene by scene from one character to another. By the end the creature enters the collective unconscious of mankind for a totally omniscient POV. Might be an interesting experiment. If any of of you try it I want half the royalties!

[Jaqhama]

The bar is crowded, as well it might be on a friday night and a few hundred miners have plenty of money and little to spend it on.
Glancing over to see his reactions I look at Quake...

Quake is looking around wondering what the hell he and Rye are doing here.
Sure, one of the miners here at Talos is a crazed killer, but Q doesn't figure they're going to be able to pick the guy, or gal as the case may be, out of a crowded bar.
He looks back at Rye...

And I smile and say. "Yeah I know. But don't worry, I have a plan."

[Keralen]

Keep going, Jaq!

[jhmcmullen]

Is it possible to write a story in 1st person Omniscient?

Yes, and it's a story told by God.

And it's a murder mystery.

God investigating His own death.

(Of course it's possible, but what story ideas support it? And why would a murder mystery starring God be interesting?)

[Jaqhama]

Keep going, Jaq!

What?
You want the whole story? LOL.

[Keralen]

You bet! Someone's got to pick up this challenge of CW's.

[jkahn]

I bet I know a certain telepathic cop who could do it. heh, heh.

[crystalwizard]

I'll bet that specific cop COULD do it,

So, will we be seeing anything from you, with that character, in 1st person omni?

[Window Bar]

Hi CW-- I love the question! And yes it would be possible. The choices would be:

1) God as protagonist.
2) A lunatic as protagonist who believes he/she knows what's going on in others' heads.
3) A sci-fi/fantasy novel set in a world where everyone including the protagonist actually knows what's going on in others' heads.
4) A realistic novel where the narrator knows he/she is telling a story, so he/she can have the invented characters think just about anything.

All of these choices are variations on the first, God as protagonist. It's a good idea.

[jkahn]

You know, there's a certain point in the story where that would actually make sense. Involves him getting shot up with a certain drug (wink, wink). Ooo, that'll be fun! (rubs hands together with evil glee).

[crystalwizard]

My reply seems to have gotten lost.

Something everyone seems to have forgotten.

OMNI POV involves more than just what all the characters see and hear. It's also what the camera can report on.

Here's a scene to use as an example:

It's night, on a dark street.
A man is walking by an alley
In the alley are:
1. A mugger waiting in the shadows
2. a cat digging through the garbage
3. a dead dog with flies circling it
4. a strange bubbling blob of alien jelly

The camera could report on all of those things, what they're doing, what's happening when they do it. And we can switch into the POV of all of those things (though we have to use the POV of a fly for the dead dog).

So to write in 1st OMNI, the narrator would also have to be able to report on all those things.

That means that while the man or the mugger (or the cat or fly) would have to be able to do more than just report what he/it HEARS someone else thinking.

not sure your cop could do that, Jason. Can he?

[jkahn]

Not on his own, definitely not. But perhaps under the influence of certain substances. Naturally, it would all depend on how well it's written.

[crystalwizard]

*watches said cop develop powers he didn't know he had* now that could cause him quite a few problems ...

[BarbT]

It might be technically possible, but would it be something anyone would want to read?
Maybe if it was VERY short - or the reader had also taken some sort of "substance".

[DSCrankshaw]

Actually, I think a lot of stories are first person omniscient. The omniscient narrator doesn't necessarily know everything--but he does know everything that's relevant for the story, and can relay it to the reader. The first person narrator is a character in the story. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Sure, no non-deity character can know everything, but he can know all the facts relevant to the story--generally, after the fact, when he's telling it. For example, he can tell you what's going on with a character whom he hasn't met yet, though his explanation will have to be, "Seth later told me that while I was doing this, he was..." or "From what I later figured out..." Or even first person from another person's perspective for a time. although that's more equivalent to first person limited than first person omniscient. Or that there's a mugger waiting in the alley that he hasn't noticed.

[erazmus]

I am pretty sure I've done this. Of course the 1st person omniscient narrator was unreliable. She'd just tell you what she assumed other people were thinking and doing, but with the certitude of a teenager recounting gossip. Just because it wasn't necessarily what they were actually thinking, feeling and doing didn't matter, all the reader gets is what the narrator supplies. It works, after a fashion. It was my first professional sale . . .

Mike

[JoshBrown]

By definition, it would be impossible to be omniscient and also unreliable.

It's either omniscient or it's not.

[The Griot]

According to one of my critique group mates who is a stickler about POV, the answer would be no. The narrator can only be aware of his or her own feelings. Everything else would be deductions, assumptions as WAGs, just like real life.

[Greybeard]

It might be simulated by writing in first person from multiple viewpoints. But that would certainly be a simulation of omniscience rather than true omniscience.