Last time we talked about writing your story in first person, that is letting your main character tell the story, referring to herself as I. That is one clear choice you have as a fiction writer, and we all know stories which use that choice well. If you haven't paid attention to point of view when you read—and most people except for fiction writers probably don't—start paying attention now.

Notice whether each story you read is written in first person, I, or in third person, he or she. And if a story is written in third person, notice whether the writer always stays in the point of view of the main character. When you read do you share that character's thoughts and only his thoughts, no one else's? If the character goes to sleep does the story stop until she wakes again? Do you know nothing except what the main character knows, sees, hears, thinks, feels?

If the story is told in third person but confined to your main character's point of view, that is called third-person limited. The writer is writing in third person but limiting herself to the perspective of one character. That is the way most stories are told.

Third person gives you as a writer a combination of freedom and control. You can write in your own voice only mildly influenced by your main character. You don’t have that freedom in first person where your language must seem to come directly from your main character.

There are great advantages to confining yourself to the perspective of your main character. When we as readers enter a character's thoughts, share his feelings, look out at the world through his eyes, we tend to become that character. And it is that becoming which draws us into the story, makes us care deeply about the problems of the main character, and makes her victory or loss at the end of the story our own. We all read stories in order to feel, and it is that close connection with one character, more than any excitement of plot, that makes your readers feel.

So how do you climb inside your main character in third person? In first person, it's easy. The character just tells us what he is thinking, how he is feeling, what he is experiencing. In third person, the process of staying with your main character just takes a bit more practice.

In third person, action comes easily for most writers. If Ben dashes down the street, you just write, Ben dashed down the street. But getting inside your character is important, too. You just need to be aware that you need to do that. You can start by telling us what his senses know. He could hear the feet pounding after him. Or you don’t even have to tell us that’s what he’s hearing. If we're inside Ben we can simply hear with him: Feet pounded after him.

It's also easy to get inside Ben's head and tell us what he is thinking. One way is direct thought. Will they catch me? he thought. That does the job, but direct thought interrupts the flow of your narrative the way dialogue does. So if this chase is going to be a long one, direct thought begins to feel awkward.

Most of the time what works more smoothly is indirect thought. You simply stay in the past tense and third person of your narrative and go on writing. Were they going to get him? What would happen if they did? He had been stupid to walk down that alley. Really stupid. He knew those guys always hung out there. We know that we are inside Ben's head and we are drawn into his panic.

The problem with third-person limited isn't that it's difficult to let your readers experience the world through your character. It's that action is so easy, you can easily forget to write through your character's senses and thoughts.

The first step in learning to inhabit your character, to move fully inside him and let your story happen through him, is to begin to read differently. Notice when you are reading whether the authors are working in first or third person. Notice, whichever point of view they choose, the techniques they use to inhabit their main characters. Then practice. Take your main character and walk her into her bedroom and let her describe that room, first in first person as she would actually talk to us, then in third person where the language is yours but the senses and reactions to the room come through your character.

Try doing that with other places in your story and with other story situations. Let your character think about the problem that is going to form the core of your story. How would he think about what he wants, in first person, in third? Put her in a hot bath or a cold shower and describe the feeling of the water against her skin. After you have tried inhabiting your character in various situations appropriate to your story, begin writing the story itself. Let what you have learned from this exercise flow through your story. Don't sit your character down for long periods to think. Let him think while he's carrying on a conversation with his friends...or being chased down a dark alley. Let her senses bring each moment alive.

In art, limitation is power, and staying with your main character, truly with him, will hold your readers into your story powerfully.

Next time I'll talk about other forms of third person point of view. Once you leave third person limited, other choices come with built-in hazards. It is important, though, that you understand what the choices are and learn to recognize them in your reading, whether or not you are ready to employ them in your own writing.

For more information on point of view or other aspects of writing a story, try my book, What’s Your Story? A Young Person’s Guide to Writing Fiction. Both young writers and adults—especially adults writing for young readers—find it helpful.