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Fictional Narrative Basics - Point of View
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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As with many aspects of first drafting, one key to maintaining control over the elements of point of view is knowing who is telling the story, from what perspective, and with what attitudes and biases. Reread the quotes by Marilyn Krysl and Gabriel Garcia Marquez about the first paragraphs of their stories from the "Beginning" section of this discussion unit. Both authors report spending a great deal of time establishing tone and style, and Krysl adds diction.
I lump all of these elements together under the concept of "voice," which is the question of who is telling the story. Whether the narrator is a literal character in the story or not, understanding the narrator's relationship to the story is crucial to knowing how the narrator will speak about the story.
It can often help to think of a particular person you know as your narrator, especially if they exist in a particular relationship to either you or your material. If you think of your uncle remembering back to his days as a longshoreman, you will naturally fall into the cadences and rhythms of his speech, and your references to time and location will be consistent to the reminiscent perspective.
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