Everything You Need to Know About Narrative Voice Techniques

Everything You Need to Know About Narrative Voice Techniques The narrative voice, or as it is more commonly known, the point of view (POV), is an essential element in storytelling, as it determines the character with whom the audience will sympathize. It also informs them of the narrators perspective and is essential in shaping their understanding of the storys events.It allows the reader to view everything from the stance of a character and/or narrator, including their feelings and experiences. The narrative voice is an essential element of the telling as it allows the reader to relate to the character telling the story and understand the motivations and desires of other characters, as well.Think of POV like a pair of glasses that you give your audience. In order for them to see what youre seeing clearly, and in the best possible way to experience it, you need to give them the best pair of lenses to do that. Those lenses are the different types of narrative voice.This post will delve into how to identify different types of narrative voice and which pair of lenses would best suit a particular piece of writing.Photo by Valentin Salja on UnsplashFirst PersonIn first person point of view, the story is being told from the perspective of the narrator.Pronouns:I/ weme/ usmy/ ourThis narrative style is one of the most common POVs in fiction. All events in the story are filtered through the eyes of the narrator and the readers experience the story or account from their perspective. Therefore, it is the type of narrative voice that is able to immediately connect with the audience yet is limited to one perspective and is biased by default.Best suited for:Autobiographies (fiction and non-fiction) or personal accountsExamples:Charles Dickens David Copperfield, J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye, and F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby.Siobhan said that I should write something I would want to read myself. Mostly I read books about science and maths. I do not like proper novels. In proper novels people say things like, I am veined w ith iron, with silver and with streaks of common mud. I cannot contract into the firm fist which those clench who do not depend on stimulus. What does this mean? I do not know. Nor does Father. Nor do Siobhan or Mr Jeavons. I have asked them.From The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark HaddonSecond PersonIn second person point of view, the story is being told from the perspective of the audience.Pronouns:youyourThe second person narrative is less frequently used than the first or the third. In this type of perspective, the story is told as though the reader is the character telling the story. Thus, the audience becomes the driving force of the story, immersed into the action instantly. Second person point of view gives the writer a shot at being different in that the tone surprises the reader, and gives them a more personal way of experiencing the story. It is the most difficult to execute among all the types of narratives, but it can be done.Uses:Most commonly use d in instructional writing, such as recipes and manuals, or any writing requiring a step-by-step procedure; novels.Examples:Italo Calvinos If on a Winters Night, a Traveler, Edward Packards Choose Your Own Adventure series, Jay McInerneys Bright Lights, Big City and Lorrie Moores Self-Help.Your mother has encountered this condition many times, or conditions like it anyway. So maybe she doesnt think youre going to die. Then again, maybe she does. Maybe she fears it. Everyone is going to die, and when a mother like yours sees in a third-born child like you the pain that makes you whimper under her cot the way you do, maybe she feels your death push forward a few decades, take off its dark, dusty headscarf, and settle with open-haired familiarity and a lascivious smile into this, the single mud-walled room she shares with all of her surviving offspring.From How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin HaminThird PersonIn third person point of view, the story is being told from outsi de a single characters perspective.Pronouns:she/heher/histhey/itThe third person narrative is perhaps the most commonly used perspective. It used when the narrator is not a character in the story and is therefore, on the outside looking in. It offers the audience some distance from the characters of the story. It has three sub-types, which I will cover below.Best suited for:Novels and historical documentation.Third Person LimitedWhen the narrator only knows what the characters know and only follows a single perspective at a time and thus, has limited knowledge of the events. It is similar to the first person narrative as it is restricted to the knowledge, perspective and experiences of a singular character.Examples:J.K. Rowlings Harry Potterseries, George Orwells 1984 and George R.R. Martins A Storm of Swords.The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.From Hills Like White Elephants by HemingwayThird Person Multiple (Multiple Perspective/Multi-Narrative)According to Donald Maass, Multiple viewpoints provide diversion from, and contrast to, the protagonists perspective. They can deepen conflict, enlarge a storys scope and add to a novel the rich texture of real life†¦ Our lives intersect, collide and overlap. Subplots lend the same sense of connectivity to a novel. They remind us of our mutual need, our inescapable conflicts and our intertwined destinies.This type of narrative voice allows the narrator to follow several characters in the story, switch between them and recount the story from different viewpoints. This style is tricky, as it can confuse the audience easily. But it is possible, as long as:Each change in POV is clear (the writer can use section or chapter breaks).There is an inherent thematic reason in the change (for example, in Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse, Woolf uses multiple perspectives to emphasize themes of expectation and judgment between sexes).The change should serve to move the story forward. These shifts in perspective are considered subplots and are therefore crucial to the intrinsic nature of the story. The change must reveal an important aspect of the plot or the main characters significant enough in progressing the story.Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on UnsplashIf you feel that you should write in multiple POVs, a few important questions to ask are:Is it necessary to tell a story that really must be presented in the eyes of multiple characters?If so, why?How many stories are you trying to tell?How are they all linked together or how do they all intersect in order to unify the overarching story arc as a whole?This article gives great advice for writing in multiple POVs, which is still considered a limited perspective, as the narrator is not all-knowing and is confined by the characters he/she follows.ExamplesA brilliant one is t he historical method, which is used by historians to verify and form historical narratives about accounts in the past by using primary sources and evidence such as archeological artifacts. Historians follow multiple accounts in order to prove and confirm the occurrence of an event.Other examplesGeorge R.R. Martins A Song of Fire and Ice series, Paolo Coelhos The Witch of Portobello, Roberto Bolanos 2666, and Vladimir Nabokovs Pale Fire.Third Person OmniscientIn this point of view, the narrator is all-knowing and is unbound by the limited perspectives of the characters. The narrator knows the goals, motivations, intentions, back stories, inner thoughts and emotions of everyone in the story, and therefore, becomes god-like. The narrator is able to provide a precise and intuitive telling with an interconnected knowledge of all the events.ExamplesGabriel Garcà ­a Marquez One Hundred Years of Solitude, Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina.Elizabe th, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger.From Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenSo, which narrative style should you use? There is no correct answer, as long as each character and subplot serves to move the story forward. Every narrative can be told from multiple standpoints. Making the decisions concerning how many stories are being told, how many characters are necessary for the telling, and how they all intertwine to unify the world of the story is one of the great tests of a writers creativity.Ultimately, the writers tasks are to think about the limitations of each perspective, determine which feels most natural to the story, take cues from the POVs of different w orks, and focus on the intention of the story in order to assess which narrative style would suit the telling best.