On Considering Narration: Have A Little Perspective
They say to understand someone you should walk a mile in your shoes. And in order to create an interesting story, you should understand your characters' thoughts and feelings; which means thinking carefully about the perspective from which your story is told. Who is telling your story, and how exactly are they telling it? But maybe you are wondering how you should approach figuring out how all this works. So I have come up with a few steps for you to consider when thinking about the narration of your writing. Let me give you a little perspective on the matter…
First things first, we should talk about the different types of narration that you can use in your writing. Or rather, I should talk about it!
First person: the use of the personal inclusive pronouns "I" and "We".
Second person: the use of the pronouns "You", directing the writing at a specific other person.
Third person: using the pronouns "He", "She", and "They".
Deciding on which narrative person you should structure your writing around can be the first step to figuring out the specific perspective from which you will be telling your story. For example, a story told from the perspective of "me" makes it feel more personal to the reader, and can encourage sympathy for the narrator. On the other hand, a story told about "her" could create a level of distance between the narrator and the audience. Of course, this decision can be mostly down to what kinds of narratives you feel comfortable writing - for example, I personally tend to choose third person as my narrative style. But it's important to think about how this might affect the story that you are telling!
Once you have made the decision of what "person" you are going to write in, you can look more closely at the narrative style that you will use. Two options that you could explore are omniscient narration and filtered narration. Sometimes these more complex ideas can get confusing, so I find that it helps to visualise the narrator as though it is a camera lens through which you are watching your writing play out. Who does the camera focus on, what does it ignore? In omniscient narration, the narrator has knowledge of all the emotions and actions of each character; if it were a camera lens, the camera would be paying equal attention to each of the characters, perhaps switching between them in different scenes. In filtered narration, the narrative is tinted by the emotions and experiences of one specific character; if it were a camera lens, the camera would be perched on this character's shoulder, and the audience would be able to see whatever they see.
So then the next question that you will need to consider (particularly if you are choosing to employ filtered narration focusing on which specific character) is which character may serve as your narrator, or the focus of your narrative. Who is "I"/"she"/"you"? This could be the main character of your story, in which case you should consider which character has the most to say about the events of your plot. Alternatively, your narrator could be a relatively minor character who does not have a large role to play within the story, but who is able to observe the actions of everyone else - think of Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby, or Ishmael from Moby Dick
Now, once you have figured out the character whose perspective you will place at the forefront of your narrative, you can get creative with the voice that they use. How do they act as a narrator? What impression of this character do you want to give to the audience; do you want the audience to trust them, or to doubt their intentions? If so, you may consider giving your narrator an unreliable voice. As an unreliable narrator, the character may try to lie to themselves and to the reader, hiding important parts of the narrative and revealing them at the last minute. Perhaps the most famous example of an unreliable narrator is the narrator of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, who the audience quickly realised is twisting the narrative to present himself and his actions in a more positive light. Clearly Nabokov chose to use an unreliable narrator in order to make the plot more shocking to his audience, and so therefore you should think carefully about the way in which the voice that your narrator uses affects the way in which the reader will experience the story.
Hopefully I've got you thinking about how you can use perspective in your writing to affect the way in which your reader views the narrative. It might seem overwhelming at first, but if you break it down into several simple steps then it quickly becomes more manageable.
