NARRATOR AND VOICE

NARRATOR

• The person telling the story
• They control everything we know about the characters and events

3 MAIN TYPES OF NARRATORS/POINTS OF VIEW

• Omniscient
• First person
• 3rd person limited

OMNISCIENT

• When the narrator is not a character in the story
• Almost never refers to himself or herself directly
• Omniscient means "all knowing"
• They tell us everything there is to know about the characters

FIRST PERSON

• A character in the story who talks to us
• We get a personal view of the story
• We only know what he or she thinks
• Always question whether a first person narrator can be trusted
• An unreliable narrator is biased and does not tell the truth

3RD PERSON LIMITED

• The story teller focuses on one character
• Talks in 3rd person (he or she)
• Shares 1 characters reactions
• What we know about the other characters is limited

TONE

• A story's tone can be described as a single word
• Tone is the attitude a speaker or writer takes toward a subject
• If you change the point of view, you may change the tone

VOICE

• Refers to the writer's use of language and overall style
• Created by the writer' stone and choice of words
• Often you can identify the author from the voice
• Sometimes writers switch voices or it may change over time
• Most writers tend to keep the same voice

VOICE

• In fiction, narrators can also be said to have a voice
• It is created by their manner of speaking, word choice, and tone
• The narrators voice can affect our view of characters and events
• They can also shape the tone of the story as a whole