![]() We don’t get to know anything outside of what the character knows, and we don’t see anything past what the character observes. It uses pronouns like she, he, and they, but the reader is still limited. The narrator is separate from the character, but remains closely in the character’s limited perspective. Second person establishes the reader as the character, using the pronoun “you.” You’ll see this used in books like choose-your-own adventure novels. The odd guy out for narrative perspectives, and it’s not often used in creative writing. The character themself is the narrator, so it uses the pronouns “I” and “me.” This is often considered the closest possible perspective from which to write, since you’re in that character’s head for the entire story. You’re probably familiar with narrative perspectives, but I’ll briefly cover them just in case. First, second, third limited, and third omniscient. To start, let’s talk about different possible narrative perspectives. We’ll cover some popular examples in a bit, it’s a literary device that you can apply to your own stories.īefore we get further into unreliable narrators, let’s cover the different types of narrative perspective and which ones are best suited for unreliable characters. You’ve probably been exposed to lots of stories with this type of narration. Want to write your own unreliable narrator? Let’s talk about it!Īn unreliable narrator is a character who is telling a story and, for whatever reason or in whatever way, the story lacks credibility. And you don’t want to mistake an unreliable narrator for a villain (though they sometimes are). You don’t want a character the readers don’t feel connected to. An unreliable narrator lies, but they do so in a way that adds to the story instead of taking away from it.įinding that balance is hard. An unreliable narrator breaks this rule, but in practice, they shouldn’t break that relationship. In turn, readers trust that the author is giving them good information. ![]() Authors are relaying information to the reader and trusting that the reader will understand. All author-reader relationships involve an element of trust. They can turn a tense story into a real nail-biter when they’re written well!Īnd they’re hard to write well. Not only does a reader have to work out the conflict, but with an unreliable narrator, they have to call into question everything that happens and keep a sharp eye out for deception and misdirection. Why Add This ElementĪdding an unreliable narrator to your story creates an additional layer of conflict for the reader to sort through, which adds to the overall tension. It’s like a puzzle to figure out what actually happened and why they’re misrepresenting it. Introducing the unreliable narrator.Īren’t those characters so fun to read? I personally love a douchebag main character, but I also love characters who lie to the reader. Have you ever read a book with an untrustworthy main character? The kind of character where you can SEE that what they’re doing is wrong, but they’re justifying it to themselves? Or maybe they’re interpreting an event incorrectly because of their own biases.
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