All about the Narrator Pointofview is only referring
All about the Narrator • Point-of-view is only referring to the narrator’s point-of-view. – You can only look at the narration to determine POV. – Words in dialogue do not count.
First Person POV • The narrator is in the story and refers to him/herself. • Narrator will use words like – I, me, we, us, our, my
Types of 1 st person narrators • The Unreliable Narrator -a fun, but controversial, character who at first appears sane, unbiased, or balanced and then, as the story unfolds, is revealed to be not who the audience thinks he is. • The Protagonist - the main character/who the entire story is about • The Observer - witnesses the story but does not necessarily experience the story himself. – can provide somewhat objective commentary – does not have the ability to know everything about every situation. • Another Major or Minor Character -acts as a character within the story but is not the protagonist of the story • the reader can experience the protagonist from the viewpoint of the someone else who’s experiencing a parallel experience within the same story. • may add more objectivity to how the reader sees the protagonist because this secondary character has his own emotions and opinions that will influence how he describes the protagonist and
Three Types of Unreliable Narrators • # 1 The self-absorbed narrator: – Think about a selfish person that you know. Think about a time that this person could not see the big picture of a situation, because they were only thinking about what they wanted. – Get into this character's shoes and write a story with "tunnel vision. " – The setting and other characters can give the reader clues as to what the "big picture" is, but the narrator never gets out of his or her own expectations and desires. – For ideas on how this works, watch the movie Clueless (PG-13) and think about how the film maker made this work. The main character has an epiphany at the end of the movie, not just about the world she lives in, but about her own feelings! This is a good example of a somewhat self-absorbed character showing us the world, but is also a likeable character -- allowing us to see the world as comical.
Three Types of Unreliable Narrators • #2 The naive narrator – You can create a story with limited knowledge, by having the narrator be a naive character in a story. – These work great, because sometimes the character is reliable, at least if the character is virtuous. – However, you (the writer) can withhold certain things in a story from the reader, because the narrator is naive. – A classic way to do this is tell the story from the perspective of an innocent child (like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird) or from the perspective of someone who is mentally challenged (like Benjy from The Sound and The Fury or Algernon in Flowers for Algernon).
Three Types of Unreliable Narrators • # 3 The crazy narrator – Think about Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart. " This narrator may be mentally ill and is portrayed as a unstable, creepy, or fearful. – His level of virtue is skewed and his ability to tell the difference between right and wrong seem to be severely compromised. – Some might argue that he does know the difference between right and wrong, but that he is simply evil. This kind of narration can be seen in some of Poe's other short works, like “The Cask of Amontillado. "
Advantages and Disadvantages of 1 t person • Pro – Readers become intimate with your character, seeing the world from his/her eyes, feeling his/her feelings. – Can create suspense or tension as readers ONLY know your character’s side • Con – It is limiting in plot purposes – Readers ONLY know your character’s perspective thus making him or her unreliable – the use of language is severely restricted as is the slant on the plot of the story being told • the narration must "fit" with how that character would act and speak.
Second Person POV • The second person is almost never used in literature. • The second person is when the narrator says “You” and puts the reader directly into the story. • Great for role playing stories and choose your own adventure series.
Third Person POV • The narrator is telling a story about other people. • Narrator will use words like • He, she, him, her, they, them, their, (and characters’ names). But wait! There’s more!
There are 3 types of third person narrators. • Omniscient • Limited • Objective
Omniscient Narrator • a narrator who knows everything that needs to be known about the characters and events in the story, and who has privileged access to a character's thoughts, feelings, and motives. • This narrator never needs to say “maybe” or “perhaps” a character feels something. They always know.
Advantages of Omniscient – stories that have complex plot lines typically require more than one character's point of view – enables omnipotence because the narrator outside of the situation – instead of every event and occurrence being interpreted through the eyes of one character, the events and occurrences are narrated to the reader through an objective source. • allows the author to write plenty of action into the plot of the story – gives the writer great freedom by being able to competently express the feelings of others without having to somehow include it in the plot – ability for the narrator to move about the plot of the story freely so they are not trapped in one character's point of view • allows the narrator to give the readers multiple viewpoints throughout the story to keep it interesting • certain events can unfold while the main character remains completely unaware, thus adding to the suspense of the story • writer can also add details that the main character would not (or could not) have noticed or realized from his point of view.
Disadvantages of Omniscient • Head-hopping -- the negative result of quickly jumping from one character's viewpoint to another character's feelings or emotions within a short time – especially problematic when a scene contains multiple characters and the narrator bounces back and forth between their points of view within the same paragraph or sentence. • It's difficult to keep the pronouns straight and remember which "he" or "she" the narrator is referring to. • Creates distance between the reader and the characters – Result: the reader's lack of connection to the primary characters – the voice is impersonal because the narrator tells the story word for word, rather than allowing characters to naturally reveal their feelings and attitudes as the story unfolds. • the narrator knows everything about the characters – a story can lose its cohesiveness as the narrator jumps from one character's feelings and attitudes to another character's reactions or responses causing confusion for the reader and a lack of clarity
Limited Narrator • a narrator who is confined to what is experienced, thought, or felt by a single character, or at most a limited number of characters. • They do not seem to be sure of what every character is feeling.
Weighing in on 3 rd person limited • Pros – allows you to float between multiple characters. – offers a great level of depth and opportunity for extensive development. • Cons – greatly reduces the narrator's ability to answer a wide range of questions and provide a vast amount of detail – readers can only experience the story from the selected character's viewpoint and can only go where the chosen character goes (like 1 st person narrator) – A single character can't naturally know about and participate in all the important events.
Objective Narrator • This narrator can only tell you what can be seen or heard. They cannot know anyone’s thoughts or feelings. • We are all objective observers. We can tell others what we see or hear, and we can guess at someone’s thoughts, but we can not know what they are thinking unless they tell us. • Very rarely used
Guess the Narrator Lilly shivered and sobbed while sitting alone under the tree. Jacob felt a pang of pity for her, and though he worried what the others might say, he walked to her, sat beside her, and offered her his jacket. Omniscient Limited Objective
The Answer Is Limited
Guess the Narrator Lilly shivered and sobbed while sitting alone under the tree. Jacob gazed at her with a stare suggestive of pity, and his lips tightened as though he debated something of importance. He gave one timid glance back at the others, and then walked boldly over to Lilly and sat beside her and offered her his Jacket. Omniscient Limited Objective
The Answer Is Objective
Guess the Narrator Lilly shivered and tried unsuccessfully not to sob while sitting alone under the tree. She was more embarrassed and miserable than she had ever been. Jacob felt a pang of pity for her, and though he worried what the others might say, he walked to her, sat beside her, and offered her his jacket. Omniscient Limited Objective
The Answer Is Omniscient
Guess the Narrator Lilly shivered and sobbed while sitting alone under the tree. Jacob felt a pang of pity for her. He gave one timid look back to the others. They were playing keep-away with the small boy’s wallet. He could not tell if any of them were paying attention to him now. Regardless, he went to Lilly, sat beside her, and offered her his Jacket. Omniscient Limited Objective
The Answer Is Limited
POV Example • Please get a Chrome book then go to the Creative Writing class page. Under Fiction, Point of View, then look for the The Wife’s Story. Open the document. We will be reading this together.
POV Exercise #1 • Get a “What If” book and turn to page 70. • We will be working on exercise #24 “The Unreliable Narrator”. • Using the notes on this POV power point, you will write in first person; length: 500 words. • You will have until 9: 20 to finish this exercise.
Unreliable Narrator Ideas Characters with self-delusions. • Maybe your character believes she is generous -- but her motives are really selfish. • Maybe he thinks he's the life of the party -- but everyone else thinks he's boorish and rude. • Maybe she sees herself as a victim -- but really she's the victimizer. • This kind of self-delusion adds interesting layers to a character, and provides plot opportunities. The reader might be aware of the character's true nature throughout the story, creating narrative irony. Or the revelation might come at the end, as a plot twist. Characters who are stuck in the past. • Maybe your character experienced a traumatic event that shapes his or her present behavior. Or maybe s/he is obsessed with a past triumph. Examples: • Your character has such an idealized memory of her high school romance that now, twenty years later, no romantic partner can measure up. • Your character fought in a war and now has trouble adapting to civilian life. • Your character was once betrayed by someone close to her and now has trouble trusting anyone. • The past event might be the turning point of a plot, or simply a way to add depth to the character, hinting at a life that extends beyond the frame of your story. Characters with contradicting traits. • Maybe your character is cruel to people but gentle to animals. • Maybe your character is ultra-competent at work, but her personal life is a mess. • Maybe your character is outgoing and confident with everyone except for the person he secretly loves. • Contradictions like these add dimension and surprise to a character. If the contradictory traits come in direct conflict with each other, that can be the basis of a story plot.
Point of View Exercises • Go to the class page, Fiction, scroll down to Point of View exercises and open the document. • In 200 words or less, you will be taking one scenario/conflict and writing it in THREE different perspectives. 600 words total.
POV Pair Share • • Andre and Gianna Vic and Ryan D Kayla, Nicole and Ryan H Dakota and Abby Ava and Jamie Sarah and Jack Riley and Marisa Bri and Seth
POV Exercise Pair-Share • Now that you have THREE versions of the same conflict, share with a partner. After reading all pieces, highlight the details that show perspective and insight (do this directly on the doc). • Then, answer these two questions on the notecard provided: • Which perspective revealed the character best? Why? What did you learn about this character through this point of view? • Which perspective did the writer show (rather than tell)? Which details added to the scene the most? • Be certain to put the writer’s name and your name as the reviewer. Show me the notecard for credit.
Questions to Consider with POV • Who is telling the story? Which character? At what time in his or her life? Does he or she have the advantage of hindsight? – If you have multiple characters telling the story, make notes for each character. • Does this character offer the most compelling perspective? • Which character has the most knowledge about the world of your story? Which character has the least? Do you want the reader to have this knowledge, or not? • Which character has the freedom to act? • Who is the most interesting? The most opinionated? Who will add the most flavor to the story?
Journal • Look at the following picture and write down what you see. List any images, words, phrases, etc. that come to your mind. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE.
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