without limit.Ī change in setting usually implies a change in scene a change in scene does not necessarily imply a change in setting. Stories may unfold almost in real time (that is, the time of the action corresponds roughly to the time of reading, or takes a single day as Aristotle required), or they may span any number of days, months, years. Stories may unfold entirely in a single place or follow the characters over a larger geography that can be recognizably realistic (actual places on actual maps) or the product of a vast world-building effort as one can find in genre like fantasy and science fiction. Setting is the background against which a story unfolds, the where and when, and the immediate circumstances in which characters exist, act, speak. Is there a frame narrative? (Is there a story within the story?) Is the first-person narrator the protagonist of the story? Is the first-person narrator a character in the story? Is the third-person narrator's perspective omniscient or limited-omniscient? Is the narrative voice first-person or third-person?ĭoes the narrator appear to be reliable? (Applies to both first-person and third-person narrators). Voice-related questions/heuristics for thinking about narrators This temptation should be resisted in critical analysis, not to diminish and devalue the labor of the writer/author, but to fully recognize the creative effort involved in the writing of fiction. But because the author/writer is the only figure capable of guaranteeing the realness of the text, the reader is always tempted to collapse these different levels (collapse the distance separating reader from writer) into one, and to read the author in the narrator, or the narrator in the author. This is the First-Person Narrator, a character (although a very special one) who has usurped the role of the author, has taken over the storytelling, and reveals not only the story but also him/herself trough the narration.Įach new level increases the distance between the writer/author and the reader, and each new level looms larger than the one before, obscuring the reader's vision so that only the voice closest to the reader (the higher number) seems present. Limited omniscient, when the narrator is able to follow only one character, knows what that character thinks, feels, or does, but has no access or very limited access to other characters in the story.Īt Level Three, the storytelling occurs through a specific consciousness, a distinct persona that tells the story in their own voice. The narrator is all-knowing, as the word says. Omniscient, when the narrator controls the entire narrative, knows what characters think, feel, and do, and is able to follow any and all characters at will. This narrator type can come in two forms: This is the voice we most readily (but incorrectly) associate with the author: the Third-Person Narrator. In Level Two, the narrative voice has no specific identity, but it might have specific characteristics and attitudes that will be more or less marked, more or less obvious to the reader. The presence of a narrator thus adds an additional level to storytelling let us call it Level Two. And so the figure of the narrator appears. Namely, the opportunity for the writer/author to guide the reader in imagining the voice/persona that tells the story. This not just a loss (of presence) it is also an opportunity. One consequence of this arrangement is that the writer/author is transformed from a person into a persona, or, in other words, into a character of sorts. This was not the case at Level Zero when author and voice were both present to the listener. The voice has now become fictitious and the presence of the author has become an illusion. In reading, the reader will now have to recreate the writer/author's voice in their imagination. It is here that the two figures of "writer" and "reader" are created. Level One occurs when the storyteller commits the story to writing and turns it into text. Thus, the storyteller's actual voice is present to the person or persons listening. If you consider the storytelling situation for a moment as a matter of levels of complexity, it should be clear that Level Zero is a person telling a story to another person or group. Voice and Point of View are closely related, albeit not always one and the same they refer to who tells the story, how, and in what circumstances. Below, is a simplified explanation of these elements. This is a simplified illustration of the five main elements of fiction: voice/point of view, setting, character, plot, theme, revealing detail.
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