There seems to be a NEW type of point of view we can write in called DEEP POV. It's a variation of third person that has come into the spotlight in the past few decades, and it's the style many authors and readers prefer. I literally just found out about this a few days ago, so I'm teaching myself by writing this how-to. I highly encourage you to do your own Google searches of deep pov and learn from the masters.

So lets get down to business! What is deep pov? Deep pov is going even DEEPER than third person limited, and the narrator becomes the protagonist rather than standing at a distance and recounting what happens to the protagonist. The narrator's voice is the character's voice.

I'll repeat myself a lot, but I'm saying things in different ways. Find the concept that you understand the best and work through it that way in your writing. The article I referenced while writing this how-to is http://talktoyouniverse.blogspot.com/2011/11/checklist-for-deep-pov-in-1st-or-3rd.html (linked to in the EXTERNAL LINK)

FILTERING

One of the biggest things about writing in deep pov is to avoid what is termed "filtering". Filtering is the use of phrases such as: he noticed, she felt, she saw, they heard, he remembered, she decided, she thought, he knew, they wondered, etc.

Example of filtering in third person: Darren swung his leg over his motorcycle and turned it on. He knew Annie didn't like him riding it, especially at night, but he decided he needed to clear his head.

Example of deep pov: Darren swung his leg over his motorcyle and turned it on. Annie didn't like him riding it, especially at night, but screw it! He had to clear his head.

What it means is when writing in a deeper pov (which tends to exclude the openings and endings of chapters where many authors choose to start distant and focus in deep and then fade into a more distant ending, but I digress) you want to show the reader the sensory information directly and let them come to the conclusion of what it means. But say "he realized it was a goose", and you're "filtering" all that sensory information and giving us a filtered conclusion. We don't want the filtered conclusion. The character is getting only the sensory information, and we want to experience it as he does. We don't want to hear his filtered conclusion, which happens after getting the sensory information. We want: "a meandering trail of feathers led up to the tiny animal curled up at the edge of the water. As he walked closer, it raised its slender neck and squinted at him--eyes beady and malicious. Damn geese. . . ." (fun fact: i got chased by a goose as a child and now I jump at the sght of them.)

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Another example of filtering in third person: When Annie walked into her room, she saw Darren sitting on her bed with a biology textbook in his lap. He was so annoying. She knew he had nowhere else to go, but why her room of all places?

In deep pov: She walked into her room and cursed. Darren, that annoying douche, lounged on her bed with his feet up as if he owned it. He was actually being productive--reading his biology textbook--but just the sight of him made Annie's stomach churn. Why couldn't the FBI crash through the windows and take him out of her life for good? Annie patted her pocket where her cell phone was. One little phone call was all it'd take.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Using personal pronouns usually detracts from the immersive experience of the reader and reminds them that they are not the protagonist themselves. This overlaps with filtering--probably it's the same thing--but this is a different way to present it. Here's a guideline of generally when to use and when not to use personal pronouns.

With action sentences (where your character is doing something), personal pronouns should be used. Eg. He jumped out of the car and rolled onto the street.

With perception sentences (where your character remarks on something they've perceived), DON'T use personal pronouns. Eg. "Rock music blared next door." is a better choice than "He heard rock music blare next door." The latter is filtering.

With judgment sentences (where your character says their opinion about something), DON'T use personal pronouns. Eg. "The table was filthy" is a better choice than "He saw that the table was filthy." The latter is filtering.

DESCRIPTION

Only describe something the protagonist perceives themselves. If there's a cat at the other end of the alley but the protagonist has no knowledge of it, then the narration can't mention the cat. Only when the protagonist perceives something (eg. they see the cat, they touch a hot stove), that's when they'll have some kind of emotional reaction, and that's what deep pov focuses on. That's why it's so immersive and interesting to read. When we read a laundry list of events and actions happening, we tend to get bored. What's interesting about a story is how the characters REACT to those events and actions. Focus on that, not the action itself.

Another thing about description is you can only use descriptors your protagonist would be aware of. You can't say something was "cold as ice" if your protagonist lives in a desert and has never felt ice before. You can't say something was "light as a feather" if your protagonist has never held a feather before.

DEIXIS, OR POINTING WORDS

You want the words you use to create a "center" at your protagonist. Eg. if you say "the night before", you point away from the character. If you say "last night", the protagonist is the center. It's their thought. The narrator shouldn't be aware they're telling a story--that's third person, not deep pov. Don't remind your readers that it's an author, someone who isn't the protagonist, telling the story. It should be the protagonist unknowingly telling the story. We're just following along for the ride.

Here are some examples of pointing words that should be avoided:
> "this" and "that". Especially "this". It points outside of the character because in our own thought processes, we rarely refer to things as "this". That's more like recounting an old event. In deep pov, you want to be there DURING the event.
> "Here" and "There". Especially "Here". Again, the concept of "here" wouldn't exist in the present. Saying "Here was where it happened" points outward from your character and reminds us that there's another person looking down on the events rather than the protagonist experiencing it for themselves.
> Words like "now", "soon", "today", "tomorrow", etc point away from the protagonist and hint at some external narrator. They tell an event that had happened or will happened, and that's not in the scope of the protagonist, who's experiencing these events in the present and wouldn't have a notion of "now" because everything happening to them is "now".

SYNTAX

Action is what a character does. "He jumped." "She spun and smacked him in the head." When a character does something to your protagonist, the wording is crucial to keep in deep pov. Say the protagonist is a guy, and he's talking to a girl. "She glared at him." points away from the protagonist because it makes the girl the subject of the sentence. Remember the center, the focus, should be on the protagonist.

For that previous example, to give the guy the focus, you place him in the subject position of the sentence: "His blood chilled when she glared." "His blood" is the subject in this case, and it points toward the protagonist instead of the girl.

Don't put the protagonist in a subordinate clause:
DON'T: "As he shouted, the light turned on." This emphasizes the light turning on rather than emphasizeing the protagonist.
DO: "He shouted as the light turned on." Now the subject of the sentence is "He", and that's where the emphasis is.

Back to the point on judgement, you can use something called "empty subject constructions" when judging something.
DON'T: "She thought it was stupid for him to think he could ride his motorcycle in this weather." (this is filtering again)
DO: "It was stupid to ride a motorcycle in this weather."

Use bare verb/preposition phrases. I know it's improper to end a sentence on a preposition, but consider this (when the guy is the protagonist and the girl is a secondary character):
"She walked up to him." vs. "She walked up." The former puts the protagonist in a non-subject position, the object of the action, if you will. The latter eliminates the protagonist from the picture, and it becomes more of something a person would actually internalize. Try narrating the events of your day. You'd probably think, "Barry drove over and brought cookies." rather than "Barry drove over to my house and gave me cookies."

EVIDENTIAL AND MODAL VERBS

Use them! They're words like: can, could, might, shall, should, will, etc. It creates a scene of internal judgement from the protagonist. They show how the protagonist evaluates the situation, what the possiblity of something is in their opinion. Their subjective words.
DON'T: He kicked her arm, but she was quick to recover.
DO: He might have kicked her arm with that tough leather boot of his, but he wasn't strong enough to keep her out of commission for long.

Adverbs can be used to your advantage as well (just don't go overboard): apparently, of course, clearly, surely, likely, etc.
They also show the protagonist's opinion of the situation and immerses us deeper into their minds. A third person narrator wouldn't judge situations as "clearly, he'd broken his arm". A third person narrator would just say "he'd broken his arm". They're not the protagonist, and they're not judging the situation as the protagonist is.

VOICE

A third person narrator has a separate voice from the protagonist's. A deep pov narrator's voice IS the protagonist's. If your protagonist swears a lot, there should be swears in the narrator. If they have a certain phrase they say like "No way would they..." or "Damn it all if he couldn't...", those would be in the narration.

Rather than the narrator being a middleman between the reader and protagonist as would be the case in third person, deep pov narrators ARE the protagonist. The reader gets to see the protagonist's thoughts and actions and opinions directly, and that usually gives the reader a more immersive, deeper, and fun reading experience.

Gahhhhh. The more I learn about writing, the harder it gets.*flips table*