This meant Jake would probably be wearing a gimmick hat and ramping up on the crude remarks whenever he passed Cara in the office corridor.’ You can do so by making the tone of narration overlap with the character’s emotions. When writing third-person limited narration (where the story is following a specific character’s point of view but the narration uses ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they’), you can still create personality in narration. It’s not only in first-person narration that you can give your narrator’s voice personality. Every now and then there’s a low whistling of indefinite pitch, like a flautist using the wrong emboucher.’ 3. She could say, ‘The wind in the leaves is a busy percussion solo. To put this another way, a narrator doesn’t have to say ‘I am a composer’, necessarily. Make what interests your narrator clear from the subjects they focus on. In David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, the narrator of one segment of the novel, a composer, describes setting using comparisons to orchestral instruments. Focus narration on the narrator’s interests What will the reader make of a grandma who calls her grandson’s haircut ‘sick? Or a young narrator who uses big words an adult might? 2. Of course, your narrator might use language not expected of their age group too. It helps us to understand the narrator’s point of view better.Īn ageing narrator might recall memories often, beginning paragraphs with ‘I remember when…’ or ‘When I was in my 20s…’ A young narrator might use slang common to their age group, calling something they like ‘sick’, ‘dank’ or another slang word. However if you’re writing a narrator who is involved, such as a first-person narrator (the narrator who says ‘I’), the narrator’s voice is important. When the narrator is not involved in the story, is more of a passive observer, it’s fine not to give your narrator their own distinct persona.

Try these 5 methods to fill your narrator with personality: 1. Building a memorable narrator’s voice is challenging.

Voice narrator