Wednesday 18 September 2013

Novel Narrating


Novel Narrating


When writing your story, how do you narrate it? Do you write in the third person, talking like a voice-over pushing the tale forward? Or do you write in the first person, as one of your characters?

I have spoken to many people on the subject and although it all boils down to preference, it also depends on how the story is being told. I find authors rarely stick to one type of narrative, and they tend to experiment with one way or another. Even in a certain series of books. For example, Agatha Christie changed her narrative all the time. Her series of Poirot novels rarely had the same style of narration let alone the same narrator and the language reflected that. It never became stale or repetitive.

When writing in the third person, one’s own voice is usually used so to not distract the reader from the story, but the first person’s voice must be carefully considered, as must their background. The language used by someone from Wales, for example, would be very different than from Scotland. Very different phrases are used, different points of reference that accumulate from experiences from different regions. And then you go into the history of the character.

If writing in the first person, many things if not all things must be considered about the narrator’s own persona. Their own little back story must be worked out so that when the audience reads the voice of the individual, it is believable. Not only that, but when trying to type in the accent, do you actually try and reference the accent with the dialogue, or do you simply mention that there is an accent there? Maybe you use a mixture of both? Either way I would love to know what your thoughts are on the subject.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

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