The Beat of the Day - You're a Capricious Raconteur
This is a storyteller (an unreliable narrator) who withholds information, lies to, or misleads the reader, casting doubt on the narrative. You can use this device to engage readers on a deeper level, forcing them to come to their own conclusions when the narrator’s point of view can’t be trusted. There are many ways to create a story with an unreliable narrator. Your narrator could have biases, and want to steer readers towards believing the same thing they do. Your narrator could experience hallucinations or delusions that make it difficult for them to understand objective reality. Your narrator could be deceptive and tell lies or be untrue to themself. Your narrator could be a child who doesn’t fully understand the complex workings of society within the context of your story. However you choose to make your narrator unreliable, you need to find a way of making readers question the narrator’s credibility. Does the narrator’s unreliability become more obvious over time, or was it always obvious that they are not to be trusted? Is there a plot twist at the end that reveals that they’re unreliable? An unreliable narrator can vastly alter the tone of a story. Consider what you’ve written. How would this story be different with an objective or omniscient perspective? How can this technique be useful in adding depth to a story?
thewriteplace.rocks and its logo are registered trademarks of hiive llc.
All content © 2005-2024 by hiive llc.