If writers chose our narrators the way attorneys choose a witness, we’d always look for someone dispassionate and removed from the people and events under examination. We’d make sure to recruit a candidate who’s highly observant, universally respected, and if possible, brings special knowledge to the case at hand. In fact, though, storytellers’ narrators run the gamut—from near omniscience to blatantly biased or downright untruthful. How does this affect our stories? Our readers? Let’s find out. (And let’s do a writing exercise around narrative perspectives—bring pencil or pen and paper!)
Books that will be discussed: Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki; We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson; The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz; I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.