Voice and Point Of View - Literary techniques

Third person omniscient narrator

A narrator who is assumed to know everything connected with the story narrated. Refers to the characters as 'he' or 'she'. Often assumed to be the author.

First person narrator

A narrator who speaks as 'I', often a character who plays a role in the story, although it may not be his or her own story.

Stream of consciousness

A narrative style that imitates the qualities of thoughts and feelings, making the reader feel as if they're inside someone's head. The grammar and structure suggest the random and fragmentary nature of thought. In the third person it's an extreme version of free indirect style. In the first person it's an extreme version of interior monologue.

Inadequate (or naïve) narrator

A narrator who doesn't seem to understand as much about what's happening as the reader.

Free indirect style

Third person narration in which a character's thoughts and feelings seem to be directly expressed, freely taking on the views and often the language of that character. Narratives often slide between conventional third person narration and this style, moving from a more detached voice to one that is more intimately connected to one character or another.

Second person address

A narrative voice that directly addresses the reader as 'you'. It's rare for a whole text to do this, as it's very hard to maintain.

Unreliable narrator

A narrator who is perhaps self deceiving or who cannot be trusted to give a version of events that is to be believed.

Focaliser

In a third person narrative, the character from whose perspective the action is seen.

Self-conscious narrator

Reminds the reader that what they are reading is fiction, dispelling any illusion that the characters are real people.

Interior monologue

First person, as though the narrator is verbalising their thoughts as they occur.

Intrusive narrator

A narrator who, telling the story in the third person, intervenes in the narrative with a comment in the first person.

Multiple voices

More than one narrative voice used in a single text. Can be first or third person or a mixture of the two.