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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6answers
4k 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
71 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 ...
10
votes
5answers
808 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 ...
8
votes
3answers
335 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 ...
11
votes
4answers
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
40 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....
17
votes
10answers
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
58 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 ...
5
votes
4answers
159 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 ...
3
votes
5answers
62 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 ...
3
votes
3answers
294 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
143 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 ...
12
votes
8answers
3k 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
77 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.
36
votes
15answers
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
192 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, ...
7
votes
2answers
364 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
98 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'...
1
vote
1answer
104 views
Character who always thinks aloud like a narrator
Are there any examples of characters who always thinks aloud, as a character flaw, as if narrating their own lives.
Such a character might for example be at a supermarket till and say out loud
"I ...
3
votes
5answers
544 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages to leaving the narrator unnamed?
As I begin to write a narrative (I haven't decided yet how long it should be), and as I develop the plot, I was wondering whether or not I should give the narrator a name. It was one of those random ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the difference between limited third-person narrative and free indirect discourse?
Free indirect discourse is a writing technique that makes the writing display the character's thoughts whilst still remaining in third-person narrative, with 'he' or 'she' as pronouns. As an example, ...
6
votes
5answers
614 views
Should the narrator use pseudonyms in writing?
I have characters who have to use false names.
Should the narrator use their real name or false name?
For example, if person A was being called Adam when their real name was Archie, person B would ...
3
votes
3answers
330 views
In first person narrative, is it acceptable to end rhetorical questions with a period?
In first person narrative, would it be acceptable to use a period in place of a question mark when the narrator is asking a rhetorical question?
example: My car broke down again. Why does this always ...
2
votes
1answer
95 views
Writing a narrator with a different character to the author
Many authors use a narrator with a similar character across several books - to the extent that it resembles a brand identity. Others have used different narration characters for different books (Ian ...
3
votes
2answers
112 views
How do readers/writers alike feel about too much narration in a story?
My question is pretty much summed up in the title. My story includes a lot of narration. Narrating events, narrating character's thoughts. There are several intervals in each chapter where the ...
1
vote
1answer
110 views
Using the Voice wisely
Of course, there aren't any rules in writing. But when something is used in exaggeration (or even Isn't used at all!) without prudence, it can ruins everything.
A voice is like a guide to see the ...
1
vote
2answers
442 views
What is Third Person Dramatic?
Often told as "Third Person Objective" or "Third Person Camera" it is some kind of mixture between cinema and writing. (Crazy stuff, I know.)
What is this Third Person Dramatic?
What are his pros and ...
2
votes
3answers
180 views
Is there a way to make all characters to be chameleon's archetype?
I've made another question which is an attempt to make all the characters be chameleons. What chameleons are?, in case you dont know, chameleons are characters that the main character / reader is not ...
1
vote
2answers
154 views
Omniscient but limited Narrator talking to the characters - Pros and cons
It is a third person narrator that changes the character he is "following" from chapter to chapter, or even in the same chapter (just like a limited POV, such as Mistborn or Game of Thrones)
Here are ...
-1
votes
2answers
205 views
Giving the narrator a personality that doesn't gets tiring
Proposition: Stories are information packets aimed to "entertain" people, and just like every other form of communication, they have:
A basic and lasting knowledge for interpreting the information (...
4
votes
1answer
93 views
Tech-limited metaphors?
In my native language, we sometimes use the expression "to be shot by (Someone)'s eyes", meaning that Someone is staring at you very intently and in an examining, measuring manner, most often trying ...
2
votes
4answers
443 views
Point of view, narrative voice, and when to name a character in narration
Let's say you have a scene with Maria, written in third person from Maria's point of view. Then you have a scene with Akash, written in third person from Akash's point of view - and suppose they do ...
3
votes
3answers
192 views
What is it called when the reader is the focal point?
Here is an example of what I mean in present-tense (though narrative time is irrelevant):
You walk into the empty room, you should be worrying about what's about to happen but instead your mind is ...
2
votes
2answers
202 views
How to present a human protagonist from a narrator who does not know what a human is?
My protagonist is an average human as we know it in a world populated by different animal-like species. The narrator (different character) is a member of a species that resemble polar bears. As far as ...
5
votes
4answers
722 views
How does the narrator address a character who has changed her name, but only some people call her this new name?
I know this is similar to How to Handle a Character When She Is Lying About Her Name but the situation is slightly different in where my problem lies.
I have a character who is introduced as Tabatha ...
4
votes
1answer
158 views
How can I hint at biases in a fictional first person account?
In the story that I'm preparing to write, the main character is involved in many tense encounters and begins to develop a slightly warped world view while losing bits and pieces of his morality.
I ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
First person narrative - pros and cons
I'm writing a novel where my original idea was to use first person narrative in most chapters, since the story focuses on the main character's thoughts/feelings/mental issues. I planned to use third ...
3
votes
3answers
408 views
What do you call a narrator who is not unreliable, but is naive?
While an unreliable narrator is someone who is deceiving the reader (or possibly himself), there are plenty of stories where the narrator is truthfully relaying what happened, but does not fully ...
1
vote
2answers
111 views
How to stage a scene conflict that is not about the scene's narrator?
I'm working on a novel that is told from a single narrator in third person. A number of subplots detail the stories of secondary characters.
My problem: From their point of view, I could easily ...
3
votes
4answers
700 views
Switching perspectives for a single chapter in a first person POV novel, to do or not to do?
Allow me to explain what prompted the question before you immediately say that it's not okay and it would confuse the readers.
The protagonist of the novel - also the narrator - has the ability to ...
1
vote
3answers
123 views
Interwoven story arcs (for video) - guidelines so viewers will not get lost?
I am trying to create a documentary about the history of a sports team, and have identified some compelling story arcs. However, as we know in reality, stories do not begin and end one at a time:
...
6
votes
1answer
135 views
What is the technique of displaying stream of thought in third person?
I've noticed that authors often show the main character's though process in third person using the prose itself, almost as if the character were the one narrating. Made-up-on-the-spot example:
...
1
vote
4answers
190 views
Explanatory narrative in fiction
For a little homework, I have a good story, but its not a story that can be told by letting it unfold and writing the events that happened.
What I want to do, is tell a story of events in the past ...
0
votes
2answers
173 views
How to help reader visualize the environment in a story?
In a story where there is
1) only one character
2) doesn't talk to anyone
3) don't know where he is
4) and is narrating his story
7
votes
3answers
849 views
How To Write An Unreliable Narrator?
So in my latest works I've decided to make my narrator, whom is my main character as well, pretty unreliable. How do I get this across to readers? I read a few short stories online that were pretty ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
What effect does the gender of the narrator have on a story?
I am reading this book, and a little girl is narrating the story. It was a new experience for me, since I am seeing the world through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. Other than the point of view of ...
6
votes
6answers
4k views
Switching from past to present tense to increase narrative speed?
In German, traditionally narrative texts are written in the past tense. When the pace of the action picks up, the narrator can increase immediacy and urgency by switching into the present tense.
Is ...
