So, we have great characters, great entrances, a strong lead... but how's the narrator doing? Is our narrative voice strong? Are they setting the scenes well for our characters?
Who even is the narrator? Is it you?
Hard answers inbound.
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The answer is no, the narrator is not you.
The writer and the narrator are different. The writer writes the NARRATOR, and the NARRATOR tells the story.
Confusing the two is very common error in analytical writing, and you'll see English students and even teachers make this mistake. Why do I mention this?
Because the narrator can be anyone, even a character, so to call the narrator the writer is usually incorrect. Here are some basic forms of narrators in fiction writing:
Omniscient narrator:
An entity that tells the story. This entity knows EVERYTHING. He has no limits to his knowledge, and he tells you whatever he wants.
Limited narrator:
An entity that tells the story but is limited in his knowledge. He usually only knows the thoughts and feelings of the main character.
Character narrator:
An actual character in the story.
These forms of narration can be combined with any of the POVs to create the template to tell your story. What is POV?
POV is:
The perspective the narrator uses to tell the story. This can be 1st person ("I walked into the room"), 2nd person ("You walked into the room"), or 3rd person ("She walked into the room").
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Which should you choose for your book, though? Here is when I would use each:
POVs:
1st-person POV: when a story focuses solely around one character and her thoughts. It's good for genres such as horror and simple romance, because it limits the reader's perspective, and emphasizes emotional engagement over plot.
2nd-person POV: when writing a reader x (character) fiction, or any other story in which the primary goal is to engage the reader as an active agent, not as a reader.
3rd-person POV: when writing stories with multiple perspectives and themes. Rather than switching through 1st-person POVs, use a good 3rd-person POV to weave intricate plots and characters together. When you want to have the ability to make anyone a mystery, or anyone the main character, at any given point, use the 3rd-person.
Narrators:
Omniscient: when writing stories with broad perspectives and themes. When you want to play with villains, good guys, and the random clerk you wrote in Chapter 2. Use for stories whose drama is about how the pieces fall into place, like Shakespeare, and not about the reader misunderstanding or misinterpreting characters.
Limited: when writing stories where the drama is in the mystery, because your narrator doesn't know everything and will never get in the minds of anyone but your hero.
Character: this is like limited, except the narrator is a real character in the story. Usually 1st person. Use this if you want the character's voice to shine through.
For an example of 1st-person POV with a character narrator, see my work "The Temperature of Frost". For an example of a 3rd-person POV with an omniscient narrator, see "Elise Runs and Dorothy Falls", which employs a playful narrator that focuses on characters' feelings and internal thoughts.
Finally, here are some tips about narration and POV to keep in mind:
👉 1st Person POV is not the golden standard. Although many books on Wattpad are written in it, it's not a requisite, and there's no evidence to support the idea that people prefer reading this POV to other POVs.
👉 If you switch POVs or narrators, do it for art. Don't do it because you're bored or want a change of scenery. There needs to be a good reason to change your style.
👉 Know what your narrator wants. For 3rd person, consider, what is your narrator's voice? Are they playful? Serious? Unreliable? My narrators tend to reflect the personality of the character they are focusing on at the moment. They are fluid.
👉Establish your narrator and POV. It's possible to get away with a character coming into her own as the story goes on. As we've discussed it's not preferred, but you can get away with it. You can't when it comes to your narrator. If the narrator flip-flops, you jeopardize everything you've worked for. It's like giving someone glasses to read, then taking them back and giving them totally different glasses designed to see far away. What's the focus anymore? What's the goal? What do we believe?
👉 You can have weird POVs/narrator combinations, like a 2nd-person character story, but don't dabble unless you're experienced. For most stories, stick to 1st-person character or 3rd-person limited / omniscient.
