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Fictional Narrative Basics - Point of View
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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While tense, person and perspective limit what a narrative voice can relate, there are other elements of point of view that address qualities of that voice. Two that we will work with in this class are the ideas of psychic distance and audibility. Both psychic distance and audibility vary across a spectrum in stories and are used to create certain effects. Understanding how to control psychic distance and audibility is in many ways like learning to control a car's accelerator and brake. Inexperienced drivers often accelerate then brake then accelerate without knowing they do it because they have not learned control; new writers often do similar things with psychic distance and audibility, shifting the levels of each rapidly and without awareness. Fortunately, controlling each is usually a matter of just a little bit of practice for most writers.
Audibility is an element of point of view that writers need to be aware of and practice keeping under control. Seymor Chatman developed this idea in Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film, discussing how Checkov's narrator in "The Jailer Jailed" starts by directly addressing the reader in the following manner: "Have you ever noticed how donkeys are loaded?" This is an example of a very audible narrator, one that speaks directly to the reader with a distinct voice. Other narrators simply provide flat description, and do not have such a noticeable presence.
While in many ways, Chatman's idea of audibility is closely related to and determined by perspective--with omniscient, reminiscent, and subjective perspectives including a relatively higher degree of narrative commentary than limited or multiple perspectives which by definition exclude such commentary--audibility also shifts during a story. Within the limits prescribed by perspective, a writer should also control the level of narrative audibility within the story, bringing the narrator forward or pushing the narrative opinions into the background according to the requirements of each part of the story.
Similarly, John Gardner articulated the concept of psychic distance in The Art of Fiction. It addresses how close or far the narrative consciousness is from the action of the story. Exercise 31 in What If? illustrates how shifts in psychic distance can be used to produce effects, but the key is that psychic distance shifts should be done under the author's control and for a reason. To get some practice at this, complete Exercise 31.
Point of View Exercise 5 (Opt.) - Submit Response
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