NARRATIVE VOICE

First person: "I "
"I woke up in a pool of sweat...".
- usually the main character's voice.

Pros:
- we have a direct connection to the narrator's emotional state, which provides a sense of immediacy, intimacy.
- narrator can be "reliable" or "unreliable".
- an "unreliable" narrator may be drunk, insane, otherwise warped w/ a distorted perception of things. He may have ulterior motives, an ax to grind, or too emotional to think clearly.

Cons:
- limited by the fact that narrator can't enter the heads of other characters.
- cannot relay what he doesn't know, cannot describe scenes he's not in.


Second person: "You"
"You go to the corner store...."

Pros:
- the reader feels like a character in the story.
- feels like a "choose-your-own-adventure" - very effective in interactive, user driven narrative.
- can be a difficult voice to use. the trick to using it effectively is to be abstract in description, so reader can associate their own experiences more readily.

Cons:
- some readers are turned off because it feels like they are being bossed around by the narrator.


Third person: "He, she, it, they"
"He was down to his last dime..."
- writer speaking as narrator, a bit like playing God.

Pros:
- no limitations to this point of view. narrator has the potential to go anywhere, including into the minds of other characters.
- feels objective. narrator does not have to be a character in the story.
- narrator's authority comes across more readily in this point of view.
- complex tones, such as the gravity of a situation, are easier to convey in 3rd person.

Cons:
- you often loose the urgency and intimacy compared with 1st person voice.
- there's a layer of insulation between the characters and the reader. You can bridge this gap by getting deep into characters' motivations and making them as vivid as possible.


Still other Points of View...

Stream of consciousness:
- internal ramblings, as they come streaming from the mind.
- usually sounds unedited.
example: Jack Kerouac's On The Road

Monologue:
- basically giving a speech, like an actor alone on stage with spotlight.
example: Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum

Diary or journal:
- as though narrator is writing directly into their diary.
- potential to be more intimate than the monologue.
example: Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary

Epistolary: ("epistle" means "letter", as in a "dear john" letter)
- takes the form of a letter from one person to another or correspondence between parties.
- was popular back in the old days when people wrote letters, but can be updated to take the form of emails or text messages.
example: Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine