A second person narrator
uses the pronoun "you" and is not used very often
since it makes the reader a participant in the story (and you,
as reader,
may be reluctant to be in the action!).
A third person narrator
uses the pronoun "he" or "she" and does not take part
in the story.
An objective narrator is an observer
and describes or interprets thoughts, feelings,
motivations, of the characters.
Details such as setting, scenes, and what was said is
stronger with an objective observer
An omniscient
(omniscient = all knowing) narrator has access to all
the actions and thoughts
within fiction
A limited narrator has a restricted view of
events,
and doesn't "know" the whole story
Questions:
- How much does the narrator know?
Does he or
she know everything,
including the thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. or
present just limited information?
Do you (the reader) know more?
- Time?
Do events take place "now" (verbs in the present tense)?
or in the past (verbs
are in the past tense)?
Are past recollections
fresh, or distant, and maybe hazy?
- Is the narrator a participant in, or a witness to, the action?
Is the story
second-hand, related "as told to" the narrator?
Think of yourself telling someone something that happened:
How much of
the event do you know, and how does that affect the story?
- Why is the story being told, and why now?
What is the motivation?
Character types in fiction
Characters are the people of a story, or the
opposing forces.
A protagonist or hero/heroine is the central
character of the story.
An antagonist is the counterpart to the protagonist
Tension between the protagonist and antagonist creates
the story.
Speech, thoughts, actions, appearance,
desires, and relationships reveal characters, and each
undergoes development and/or change as the story
unfolds.
Static characters are role players, and may
not “develop.”
Questions:
- Can the protagonist and antagonist be the same
person?
- Can events or situations act as an antagonist?
- How do your characters speak? How does it
affect the dialogue?
- What effect has the social class of the
characters?
Environment
Environment consists of the time, place, and mood
of a story.
- How does the setting affect the story?
Are the situations happy, unhappy, mysterious, joyful,
what?
- Where does the story take place: in nature, in a city, within
a room?
How does location affect the story?
- How is emotion created?
Is it dramatic at the outset, or build in intensity?
Maybe the effect is to maintain a certain evenness
throughout: creating its own type of tension?
- How would you change the setting of a story to
change it?
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