Narrative Perspective
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- Category: English: Creative Writing
- Date Submitted: 08/22/2010 10:58 AM
- Pages: 8
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NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE / POINT OF VIEW
All stories are told by someone. When we first listen to a story ,as a child we are very aware of the person telling it to us, and of the voice they use. (Very young children can be soothed to sleep by the sound of a parent's
voice reading them a story . ) This voice does not disappear when a story
is written down: as we read a story we "hear" a "voice" in our brain. Just as a spoken voice can affect us through its tone and style, and also tell
us something about the speaker (eg: age, gender, area where they live, emotion), so the "voice" of a written story will .convey information about its "speaker".
Fiction is, obviously, written by somebody - the author whose name appears on the cover. It is not, however, necessarily the author's voice which tells
the story. The author creates a NARRATOR. Narrative is a more formal term for story; the narrator is the teller of the narrative. It is the narrator's voice which we "hear" when we read a piece of fiction. (Note that this is often referred to as narrative voice, meaning the voice of the story ) . It is important, therefore, when discussing and writing about fiction, to remember that it is not the author telling us things, but the narrator.
The same story can be told by different people - a slightly different story will be the result, since the way a story is told helps to create the total effect or meaning of the story. Equally, the same story-teller can tell a
story in a variety of different ways and, again, the result will be somewhat different stories. Both of these variable factors apply to the narration of fiction: the author has to consciously choose both the type of narrator (teller) for the story and the type of narrative (way of telling). When studying a piece of fiction, the narrative technique used is one of the most important things to consider and examine.
PERSPECTIVE is a term used to describe the angle from which something is seen. A...
All stories are told by someone. When we first listen to a story ,as a child we are very aware of the person telling it to us, and of the voice they use. (Very young children can be soothed to sleep by the sound of a parent's
voice reading them a story . ) This voice does not disappear when a story
is written down: as we read a story we "hear" a "voice" in our brain. Just as a spoken voice can affect us through its tone and style, and also tell
us something about the speaker (eg: age, gender, area where they live, emotion), so the "voice" of a written story will .convey information about its "speaker".
Fiction is, obviously, written by somebody - the author whose name appears on the cover. It is not, however, necessarily the author's voice which tells
the story. The author creates a NARRATOR. Narrative is a more formal term for story; the narrator is the teller of the narrative. It is the narrator's voice which we "hear" when we read a piece of fiction. (Note that this is often referred to as narrative voice, meaning the voice of the story ) . It is important, therefore, when discussing and writing about fiction, to remember that it is not the author telling us things, but the narrator.
The same story can be told by different people - a slightly different story will be the result, since the way a story is told helps to create the total effect or meaning of the story. Equally, the same story-teller can tell a
story in a variety of different ways and, again, the result will be somewhat different stories. Both of these variable factors apply to the narration of fiction: the author has to consciously choose both the type of narrator (teller) for the story and the type of narrative (way of telling). When studying a piece of fiction, the narrative technique used is one of the most important things to consider and examine.
PERSPECTIVE is a term used to describe the angle from which something is seen. A...