I have been writing an action/adventure novel and am having a tough time deciding whether the voice of the writer should undergo a slight/moderate but not a complete change with the point of view character.
I came up with this question when I was thinking of a more efficient way to connect with the reader and make them feel what the character is feeling (inclusive of the tools of interior monologues etc.), but unfortunately, it did not work and the exclusiveness of the writer's voice was fading away.
This is my first literary piece and I do not have any prior experience.
Please throw some light!
Answer
It's probably a good idea to make a distinction: The writer and the narrator are two different "people," one real and one fictional. Most of the time, you don't want the writer's voice in the novel. Tell the novel through the voices of either the POV characters or a narrator.
Now, here's another matter altogether: Whether the narrator and the POV character are the same person.
In an intimate POV, the narrator kinda melts away, and each scene is told in the voice of the POV character. In a more distant POV, the story is told in the voice of the narrator—a fictional, not-directly-mentioned, observer with some kind of attitude toward the story and its characters.
So use a narrator when you want to comment on the story and its characters, either explicitly, or implicitly through the narrator's tone, diction, choice of words, and so on. If you're not trying to do that, use the characters' voices.
The writer's voice is rare in novels, sometimes used for experimental, self-referential stuff. Perhaps other folks can give examples of novels written in the writer's voice, rather than the voice of a narrator or characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment