Questions tagged [narrator]

This tag should be used for questions relating to the usage of a narrator in your own fictional writing.

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Can my narrator's thoughts be in the same paragraph as another character's dialogue?

I'm writing a scene where my narrator (character A) is listening and reacting internally to character B, who is giving a long-winded explanation of something. Though is is a problem I run into ...
Meg's user avatar
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2 votes
7 answers
559 views

If a character has multiple names, how can my narrator refer to them?

I'm writing a story about a spy. The narrator is third person omniscient. However, our spy has multiple names. Her fellow spies refer to her as "Spy 94" but her real name is "Kafu"....
WriterFromEarth's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
171 views

What if the narrator forgets the names of the characters?

My writing project involves flashbacks and explanations that may already be hard to follow to the reader. But the most important point in it, is that in the end, no one remembers what ever happened. ...
akirq_'s user avatar
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6 votes
5 answers
3k views

How to write a character who's better than you at sounding professional and doublespeak

I have a character who is an expert at using language to his advantage. Both in terms of doublespeak, subtle put downs and deliberately avoiding the point and making the conversation about something ...
aurorajack's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
225 views

Third person narrator turns out to be a character

Background: I'm writing a fan fiction story to a Harry Poter-like novel about a group of 3 close friends. The novel has the simple third person limited narrator, with POV generally following the ...
mcpiroman's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
68 views

How do you solve the issue of emotional detachment when using unreliable narration?

I've been told that unreliable narration can cause emotional detachment because the reader may not trust or empathize with the narrator's perspective, which can make it hard to connect with the ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
108 views

Do dual narratives have to alternate every chapter?

I’m contemplating writing a dual narrative, because after much thought and research, I think it’s the most interesting/effective way to tell my story. All the dual narratives I’ve seen alternate ...
greylark's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
55 views

Historical novel's person perspective when two main characters die before the end and questions remain

I am writing a historical novel and I have a few problems because I am constrained by documented facts, as well as a couple of mysteries that I believe I have solved. Basically, here are the issues: ...
Doc Fin's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
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Does third person deep POV inside an epistolary novel detract from the suspense?

My novel is an epistolary à la Bram Stoker's Dracula and there are some scenes that simply have no one around to record. Modern epistolary stories, such as the trend of “found footage” movies like ...
Vogon Poet's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
981 views

Using multiple first-person narrators, should I do it or avoid it?

I'm writing a novel. My main character - Bob - is the first-person narrator. However the 2nd character - Larry, his travel buddy - has a few deep conversations with Bob. Bob tells anecdotes. They ...
porkramen's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
209 views

Does an omniscient narrator have to be objective?

When writing a story narrated in the third person, I often find passages in my text where the narrator's opinions seem to conflate with the opinions of the character the narration is following: ...
Maciej Stachowski's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
80 views

Do I need an overall narrator for a collection of 1st person linked stories which may be a novel. If so, who would the narrator be?

I am writing a collection of short stories. Each short story is written in 1st person present tense from that particular protagonist’s POV, telling us his/her own story through their actions and ...
DJane's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
100 views

Questions in third person narration

I'm writing in the past tense, and in third person. Is it appropriate to include questions, like this? A spell to conceal her would be helpful. If there was such a spell, of course. She turned back. ...
Grace's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
89 views

How to "inform" the reader of changes in narrator?

Writing low-quality novels on my spare time is my hobby and I'm currently "working" on one where the story about a country with an ongoing civil war. I'd like to alternate between different ...
David's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
77 views

Characters feelings; Using them for pacing/tension

I'm writing a novel and in the opening chapter, one of the main characters finds herself traveling by foot through a very severe sandstorm. I used the character's feelings of choking/suffocating to ...
Bridgebot101's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
956 views

Can the first-person narrator use both past and present tenses?

My first person narrator is telling his story in the past tense but there are present tense realities too that get me confused what tense to use. For instance, here are two paragraphs: When I came ...
user191110's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
244 views

Is There a Term or Description For When the Narrator Inserts their Own Personal Perspective Into a Third Person POV?

Occasionally I have read stories where the third person Omniscient/Limited POV Narrator will describe a scene and feelings from a characters POV, but sometimes it seems like the narrator is presuming ...
Perry_M's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
254 views

How to write in a clear narrative voice

I am writing a Narrated novel. Here is my 1st Person Narration followed by 3rd Person Account of Same Incident Grandmother was an old woman left to fend for herself. Ranjho's Mother walked ...
Marium's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
90 views

How much of a Novel's Point of View should be from the Narrator

I am writing a Novel. How much of the story should be from the Narrator's Point of View. For instance, Narrator knows that person A was engaged to person B decades ago. But Narrator does not know ...
Marium's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
232 views

How much "throat-clearing," or introduction and exposition, is acceptable to introduce a narrator?

I am writing Historical Fiction Novel. A Reporter is interviewing a Centenarian who narrates the story. The Centenarian's hobby is closely related the novel. The throat-clearing also introduces two ...
Marium's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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How to present a 1st-person Narrator with a 3rd-person account of the same incident

I am writing a Historic Fiction novel. The story is being narrated by someone. The entire story is from the Point of View of the Narrator, based on information she knows. What is the best way to ...
Marium's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
177 views

How can I create an unreliable first-person narrator who is interesting and effective?

I have a series idea that I am toying with that has one character who becomes a bit less reliable mentally than her usual for a section of the story (this downward spiral is brought upon her largely ...
Tasch's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
255 views

Multiple First Person Narrators: how should I differentiate?

I am writing a novel (it will eventually be a series of five novels) and there are multiple first-person narrators. Each chapter starts of with the character's name in parentheses after the chapter ...
user88888's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
198 views

How much uncertainity will the 'general (Non-YA) fantasy reader' tolerate?

In my current project my goal is to go for the following narrative style within scenes: Show only what the POV-Char can see, hear,... sense. Show their emotional reaction (through body-feelings, ...
user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
3k views

Describing the taste of food

I’m asking about this not because I have a tendency to do so myself, but rather because I find it unusually aggravating when I come across it in other people’s works. I’m wondering if this sort of ...
Grace's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
267 views

Is the MC in first person singular always all knowing?

While writing a first-person singular novel, is the MC all-knowing? How do we handle plots which do not include the MC, like something happening with others but not including MC? Will it be taken as ...
The White Cloud's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
4k views

Is it bad style if the personal first person narrator of a story dies during said story?

Right now I'm writing a novel in which I use the changing perspectives of two main characters with limited information each to slowly unveil the whole plot to the reader. Both use the past tense and ...
DLCom's user avatar
  • 307
5 votes
4 answers
206 views

1st person addressing a narrator

I'm writing a story in first person, but with a third person narrator for the secondary character. I was wondering if there were any books or stories to research how the first person character could ...
Jack Woods's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
292 views

Alternatives to Second-Person POV Narration

I am someone with no formal writing background, who has come to love writing for the fantasy adventure role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (fifth edition) during my free time. I am currently ...
user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
157 views

In one book can one narrator be in present and the other in past?

I'm currently planning a book series that is told from the first person perspective of 5 different characters. I have a different voice for all of the characters, but I think that 2 of the characters ...
user88888's user avatar
  • 219
3 votes
2 answers
453 views

In third-person limited POV, what can be described?

In 3rd person limited, when the protagonist is present in a scene, can the narrator describe something in a scene that the protagonist cannot see?
Bob516's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
5k views

Can a third-person narrator ask questions instead of the characters?

In novels, when the PoV follows a particular character, is pretty common that we get to hear his/her thoughts. Sometimes, those thoughts take the form of questions that the character ask himself: ...
Liquid's user avatar
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17 votes
6 answers
5k views

Should a narrator ever describe things based on a character's view instead of facts?

There is something I find myself doing often while writing, and I don't even know what to call it, but I would like to know if its good practice. It happens when I'm writing from a third-person ...
Levi C. Olson's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
185 views

Distinguishing between unreliable frame narrator and narrator of framed story

I'm writing a work which is bookended by a frame story with an unreliable narrator. How do I prevent confusion for the reader when the frame narrator interjects? In the framed story, the characters ...
Mark Gordon's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
1k views

What should the omniscient narrator call a character?

Let there be a character. Let the character's name be, for example, Alexander. Now, Alexander's parents call him 'Sasha'. His friends call him 'Xander'. His girlfriend calls him 'Alex'. In formal ...
Galastel supports GoFundMonica's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
485 views

Naming things the POV character doesn't know

My middle-grade novel is third person with one primary and one secondary viewpoint character. Sometimes the narrator hovers a bit more, sometimes the narrator is more in the character's head. The ...
Cyn's user avatar
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11 votes
4 answers
2k views

Everyone is beautiful

I've noticed a quirk with the narrator voice of one of the two novels I'm working on. This narrator only describes the beautiful aspects of every character's features. You might think the women are ...
Galastel supports GoFundMonica's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
55 views

How do we properly manage the state of transition between unknown and known?

I often have a passage that sounds like this. I don't know why, but I always found these passages a bit odd sounding. A stranger was lying, face into the sands, belly down, on the beach all alone....
Sayaman's user avatar
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19 votes
10 answers
2k views

Is it possible to narrate a novel in a faux-historical style without alienating the reader?

One thing that often annoys me in historical fiction or fantasy books is the dissonance between the writing style and the events and historical period described in the book. The writing is usually ...
PoorYorick's user avatar
  • 2,842
2 votes
3 answers
96 views

Could I have some characters reveal more internal monologue than others?

For context, I am writing a graphic novel. I always used to imagine I would have some characters (mainly protagonists) reveal their internal monologue while others (mainly the antagonists) don't. They ...
panzervcv's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
1k views

Can my characters interact with my narrator? (and vice versa)

I know that this idea is not totally 'revolutionary' as this type of narration has been used in Breakfast of champions, for example. But, Unlike Vonnegut, I want the 'Narrator talks to the characters ...
Uncertainty's user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
223 views

Should I change from past to present tense to state a fact that continues into the present and is unyielding?

Within narration in past tense, should a statement of a universally true fact be in past tense or in present tense? For example, in the short text: It was late afternoon in Zubrin. The air was ...
billy p's user avatar
  • 31
4 votes
3 answers
654 views

Effectively conveying an unreliable narrator

I have been working on a post-apocalyptic novel for about a year. My female narrator/protagonist, named Eris, was isolated for almost all of her life until meeting a rogue group of survivors and ...
user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
634 views

How to describe a horse from the POV of someone who has never seen one? [closed]

In my story, my narrator has only recently met other humans and the biggest creature she has ever interacted with are dogs. In the survivors' camp, she encounters their horses and is pretty freaked ...
user avatar
13 votes
8 answers
6k views

What to call a main character who changes names?

I'd like to write a story, in the third-person perspective, centering on a character who changes her name several times in the course of the story. She uses her birth name for the first couple of ...
RedRenard's user avatar
  • 313
2 votes
2 answers
88 views

Can there be written narratives (not movies or films, but books) without any narrator?

Would it be possible? It strikes me as impossible but I am still curious to know what you think.
Vaishu's user avatar
  • 21
39 votes
15 answers
13k views

Is it acceptable to use words like "heaven" and "god" when the narrator is agnostic?

The main character, and the person whose viewpoint the story is told from, is a scientist and subscribes to agnosticism. And there are sentences in my story like: "Trees stretched into the sky ...
SealBoi's user avatar
  • 527
3 votes
2 answers
297 views

Third person into first person as the protagonist becomes the same entity as the narrator

I'm attempting to write a sci-fi novel in a dystopian future baring semblance to that within 1984. I'm using third person to describe what the protagonist sees, what he feels and what he thinks, ...
Lutro's user avatar
  • 133
7 votes
2 answers
571 views

What are ways to shade the narrator in alternating chapters of dual POV?

I've heard advice that in an alternating third person limited POV, the narration alone should be enough to seat the reader within the POV. I like this concept. What are some concrete ways in which ...
SFWriter's user avatar
  • 23.8k
0 votes
1 answer
137 views

What would be an effective way to narrate this story? [closed]

I don't want the story being told from the point of view of the protagonist. Could a third person (limited omniscient) be effective in telling this story? Giving points of view from other character'...
Carlo's user avatar
  • 780