Post: 3 types of narration for your story

narration

When you’re writing a fiction novel, you might use first, second or third person point of view to tell the story. You might also choose narration as the means of conveying the story’s unfolding to the reader. Within this category of story-telling, there are several types of narration. Choosing one type over another can have a significant impact on the quality of your novel. 

If you’re unsure which type of narration best fits a particular story, you might want to try writing it several ways. Read each work as objectively as you can, as though you were the reader not the author. Determine which style would best hold your interest, and go from there. 

You might choose omniscient narration for your story

The term “omniscience” refers to a “state of knowing everything.” If you use omniscient narration in your story, it means that a narrator telling the story knows everything there is to know about the characters, including their thoughts. It also means that the narrator might form some type of judgment or add personal commentary about the characters in the story. “The Book Thief,” by Markus Zusak is an example of story told through omniscient narration. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” is another.

Objective narration is more like reporting

Perhaps you want your narrator to simple tell readers the events of your story as they occurred, without necessarily being able to read the minds of the characters. This is what’s known as “objective narration.” Think of it more like a journalist or reporter. Some things happened and someone is telling others about them. A class tale that uses this type of narration is “Peter Pan,” by author J.M. Barrie. 

Limited narration offers some character perspective

This type of narration differs from third person omniscient point of view in that the latter, as mentioned earlier, knows everything about every character, including thoughts. With limited narration, the narrator may offer a character’s perspective, but it’s usually only one character at time. One chapter might focus on a particular character while another chapter hones in on a different character. 

The story is still being told in a third person point of view but is less intimate than omniscient narration. An example of this type of narration can be found in Lois Lowry’s “The Giver.” 

Try your hand at different types of narration

It’s easy to get comfortable with a particular writing style, but this can prevent you from improving your skills if you never challenge yourself. It’s helpful to try different styles of narration because you might find that one type fits a specific story perfectly but doesn’t align well with another story. 

If you’re undecided as to which type of narration best fits your current manuscript, you can ask an experienced copy editor to offer some suggestions.