Who Should Tell Your Story And How?

Who Should Tell Your Story And How?

Who should tell your story and how? You’ve got a story idea in your head; the figures are forming, and the story line is developing. But who will tell your story? Sometimes this is a simple question because the personality orders it to you. But sometimes it isn’t so easy.

There are lots of unique types of narration. Which one is right for your story will depend on how you want your story to go.

Narration Types

1. Third-person narration: as is used in fables, allegories, tall stories, and many novels. It has historically been and still is, the most popular approach to storytelling.

2. First-person narration: where the author or a fictional character appears as “I.” Also very common.

3. Second-person narration: where the reader becomes the protagonist. Example – “you enter the room and suddenly freeze. ” Extremely rare and usually tricky to pull off, but engaging when done well. Usually, this is used in role-playing stories.

4. Personal written documents: diaries, journal entries, etc., written by at least one of your characters; or, letters written between two or more of them.

5. Impersonal written records: newspaper accounts, transcripts or speeches, TelePrompTer scripts, etc., where the reader pieces together the tale.

6. A stream of consciousness: The reader follows a character’s thoughts as they occur to him or her. When the stream of consciousness takes the kind of standard written English, instead of a quasi-English flow of thoughts, it may be indistinguishable from third- or first-person narratives.

Based on the kind of story you are writing you may select one or more of these types of narration to use.

Narrator Types

We ‘ve gone over the ‘how’ in telling a story, let’s look into the ‘that.’

Who tells your tale is as important as how they tell it. There are several distinct types of narrators to chose from.

1. The Protagonist: the story is told by the character of the piece the story evolves and revolves.

2. The Internal Observer: the story is told by a character within the piece that observes the protagonist in actions.

3. The External Observer: The story is told by a character that has a distinct voice and character, but who isn’t personally involved with the story they tell.

4. The Author: The author of the story takes the overt purpose of the narrator, without disguise or artifice. Common in nonfiction; quite rare in fiction.

5. The False Author: The narrator purports to be the author, but is just as fictional as the characters which populate the tale.

6. The Nonentity: The narrator is more or less invisible, and devoid of personality and persona, similar to the narrator of a newspaper story. Events are clearly described, but a recognizable voice or character do not narrate them.

7. Мultірlе Νаrrаtоrs: Dіffеrеnt аrеаs оf thе stоrу аrе tоld bу dіffеrеnt сhаrасtеrs, whо аrе usuаllу (but nоt аlwауs ) раrt оf thе stоrу thеу tеll. In rare cases, portions may also be narrated by the author, a fictitious writer, or a nonentity.

8. The Written Record: The narrator is the literary, and usually unmentioned and unnamed, writer of some ostensibly factual (but of course fictional) written account, like a newspaper story or court transcript, where the reader gleans the narrative. Often several such narrators (and many different written documents ) appear in precisely the same work of fiction.

Save your story in a time capsule to pass on to future generations. Learn about how to make a time capsule here. So who will tell your story? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie