The Art of Writing: How to Write Bestselling Novels

Unreliable Narrator (POV Mechanics)

Ever heard the term unreliable narrator? Well if not, now you have.

An unreliable narrator is what you call the POV narrator who doesn't know everything about the story and, therefore, could give unreliable information in his or her narration.

First-person POV is, by nature, an unreliable narrator because the character is telling the story from his perspective only instead of from the perspective of someone who knows a lot more about the story being told.

Third-person POV can be unreliable, as well, but only if told as third-person limited. Limited means that you're telling the story almost as if you're in the person's head, but you're using pronouns like he or she rather than I or me. The former is clearly outside the head, which is what makes it Third-person. Because you're not in the person's head, but also don't know everything about the story, you've limited your narration strictly to what the POV character experiences himself in each scene. So it's as close as you can get to first-person POV without being in first-person. It's the most effective third-person style for engaging readers because it gets them closer to the character, which means more engagement.

You can also write in third-person objective POV, which is considered a reliable narrator. Objective means you stay out of the emotions of the character and merely give the facts of what's happening in the story. This POV isn't nearly as engaging because it's told farther away from the character's head.

Engagement is how sucked into a story you are. And typically, the closer the POV is to the character, the more engaged a person is. But the writer has to be good at staying close by the language he or she uses. And closer usually means unreliable narration since it limits the knowledge of the POV.

In contrast, omniscient POV means the narrator knows everything about the story and can jump from one character's POV to another's in the same scene. It's like God is telling the story. Omniscient POV can tell about a character's emotions because it knows all. This creates some well-needed engagement, but because omniscient POV is third-person, it can never be as deeply engaging as first-person since it's not inside the character's head. However, if the writer knows his craft well, he can use wording and dynamics to make the story itself very engaging in order to make up for that handicap. Unfortunately, though, omniscient POV is almost never well written and rarely picked up by publishers. Few can do it well. See my chapter on Omniscient POV for techniques to help Omniscient POV be more engaging and well-written.

So, let's review--a reliable narrator doesn't know the whole story and therefore his observations he's telling you about may be incorrect (unreliable). A reliable narrator is one who does know the entire story and gives reliable information throughout the entire narrative.

The closer you get to the character, the more likely the narrator must be unreliable because his POV is limited. The further from the character's POV you get, the more reliable the narrator becomes, generally speaking.

And most importantly, closer to the character is more engaging.

It's also important to note that an unreliable narrator can hide facts about the story which can create more tension (the tension of not knowing) and can help you have high-impact twists as a result. It's not that the narrator is hiding those facts. The narrator simply does not know those facts so he can't give them to the reader until the character experiences them. Then again, sometimes the Narrator is actually hiding facts he knows, but that's usually discouraged because the reader feels disenfranchised by the author and character. If the character holds back important facts, it feels like a cheap trick. But some authors make it work well.

A reliable narrator can have twists, too, but he has to purposely restrict information from the readers. With an unreliable narrator, though, hiding things from the readers is easier and more natural.

Your unreliable narrator can lie, as well, but this is only if it's about something he refuses to accept. For instance, maybe he knows he does horrible things, but he justifies them in some way, and therefore doesn't accept that he's conducting himself in a horrible way.

I prefer unreliable narrators because I love twists and turns, so it's easier for me to hide those things from the reader. I also prefer it because it's the most engaging since it's usually closer to the character. Also, emotions are easier to show inside and out the closer you are, and emotions are what make for deep POV engagement. They need to be shown rather than told, though, which is a difficult art in itself but makes a huge difference for reader engagement.

Hopefully, this chapter gives you some discernment about reliable narration and how its advantages, which should help you hone your skills a little from a big-picture perspective.

Good luck! And as always, if you liked this chapter, please vote for it!