What Does Limited Third Person Point of View Mean?

Limited third person means you're telling the story from the outside using "he," "she," or "they," but you can only be inside one character's head at a time.

So if you have Tim and Nancy, you can tell the story from Tim's perspective or Nancy's perspective, but not both simultaneously. If you're inside Tim's head, you can only reveal what he's thinking, seeing, and experiencing. You couldn't tell the reader what Nancy is thinking — you'd only be able to describe her observable actions, like "Nancy smiled" or "Nancy listened," not "Nancy smiled and thought what an idiot he was."

You can shift between characters, but typically you'd do this between chapters or scenes, not within the same scene. Many books do this — Jennifer Egan's brilliant novels come to mind, where each chapter follows a different character's viewpoint.

Note there are no shifts within chapters, just between them. The main mistake to avoid is "head hopping," i.e., jumping between characters' thoughts within the same scene. That's third person omniscient territory, not limited.

Also, this may seem obvious, but remember that your viewpoint character can't know things they realistically couldn't know. If you're in Nancy's head, she can't suddenly know Tim's secrets or backstory unless she has a logical way of knowing.

When describing things, stay true to how your viewpoint character would see them. I once read about a tea shop that seemed magical and wonderful through the owner's eyes, but when another character entered later, we realized it was actually quite different because we'd been seeing it through the first character's rose-colored glasses.

Just keep asking yourself: "Could my viewpoint character actually know this right now?" If not, save it for when you switch perspectives.

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