Different Stories but Same Annoying Narrator Style?
Sept 21, 2023 20:04:20 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Sept 21, 2023 20:04:20 GMT -5
Different Stories but Same Annoying Narrator Style?
By Radrook
AKA: Two-Star Bandit
By Radrook
AKA: Two-Star Bandit
First, no, I am not referring to narratives using the first-person-singular viewpoint which uses the pronouns "I" and "me" as described in the article at the website below.
I am referring to narratives using the omniscient viewpoint which employ pronouns such as "he" "her" "they" "it" "him" them" etc. and which are intended to be narratively neutral. In short, the narratives in which the narrator has no stake in the story's outcome one way or the other.
Have you ever read stories written by a writer who always manages to inject his personality into every single story by the quaint, tongue-in-cheek, and intrusive manner in which he chooses to narrate them? I have, and I found it very distracting.
True, the stories have different themes, and the content is indeed potentially interesting. But they would be far better if only the writer could refrain from constantly narrating in a tongue in cheek style, and interjecting extravagant ideas which tend to interfere with the story's flow, and in that way either reduce, or else obliterate the drama and brings the story back to ground zero again.
Weird! It's as if such a writer were self-consciously and desperately attempting to demonstrate just how unusually fertile his imagination is, or can potentially be. Seems similar to a kid on a bike who isn't satisfied with simply riding it in the standard way, but who feels that he must perform all types of extravagant acrobatics in order to deeply impress those who are watching.
Or similar to the musician who is far more interested in demonstrating his execution technique than in producing good music. Or else like a tourist-guide who is far more focused on demonstrating his vast knowledge of historical background, and minute geological details of a geographical area, than he is in making the tour as enjoyable an experience as possible for the tourists.
In all such cases, the seemingly obsessive self centeredness proves annoyingly distracting and significantly interferes with enjoyment, just as it does for a reader who encounters that same attitude from a fiction writer, who, just can't seem to adopt a neutral narrator personality so that the reader doesn't immediately recognize him in every single story as the personality that had been the one narrating or spinning a story in all the previous ones.
Narratives wherein this narrator assumes a specific personality as one of the characters essential to the story, and written by this writer are no different. They also follow the same distracting trend. There he is again, in all his very familiar distracting glory, striving might and main to convince the reader that his burgeoning imagination veritably has no bounds, and ruining the drama in the process.
Why doesn't someone tell him? Well, unfortunately, the forum where he chooses to post his short stories doesn't allow for that type of helpful response, and the rejection slips that he keeps garnering from publishers have obviously not provided the necessary feedback that would remedy this harmful self-defeating trend.
I am referring to narratives using the omniscient viewpoint which employ pronouns such as "he" "her" "they" "it" "him" them" etc. and which are intended to be narratively neutral. In short, the narratives in which the narrator has no stake in the story's outcome one way or the other.
That having been said:
Have you ever read stories written by a writer who always manages to inject his personality into every single story by the quaint, tongue-in-cheek, and intrusive manner in which he chooses to narrate them? I have, and I found it very distracting.
True, the stories have different themes, and the content is indeed potentially interesting. But they would be far better if only the writer could refrain from constantly narrating in a tongue in cheek style, and interjecting extravagant ideas which tend to interfere with the story's flow, and in that way either reduce, or else obliterate the drama and brings the story back to ground zero again.
Weird! It's as if such a writer were self-consciously and desperately attempting to demonstrate just how unusually fertile his imagination is, or can potentially be. Seems similar to a kid on a bike who isn't satisfied with simply riding it in the standard way, but who feels that he must perform all types of extravagant acrobatics in order to deeply impress those who are watching.
Or similar to the musician who is far more interested in demonstrating his execution technique than in producing good music. Or else like a tourist-guide who is far more focused on demonstrating his vast knowledge of historical background, and minute geological details of a geographical area, than he is in making the tour as enjoyable an experience as possible for the tourists.
In all such cases, the seemingly obsessive self centeredness proves annoyingly distracting and significantly interferes with enjoyment, just as it does for a reader who encounters that same attitude from a fiction writer, who, just can't seem to adopt a neutral narrator personality so that the reader doesn't immediately recognize him in every single story as the personality that had been the one narrating or spinning a story in all the previous ones.
BTW
Narratives wherein this narrator assumes a specific personality as one of the characters essential to the story, and written by this writer are no different. They also follow the same distracting trend. There he is again, in all his very familiar distracting glory, striving might and main to convince the reader that his burgeoning imagination veritably has no bounds, and ruining the drama in the process.
Why doesn't someone tell him? Well, unfortunately, the forum where he chooses to post his short stories doesn't allow for that type of helpful response, and the rejection slips that he keeps garnering from publishers have obviously not provided the necessary feedback that would remedy this harmful self-defeating trend.