I've talked a lot about the Indie Author business but today I thought I'd shift gears and talk about writing itself. I've had something on my mind for a while because of various emails I've received over the years. I get questions off and on about “discrepancies” in the timeline or things that happen in one book compared to another. Why does that happen?
It's called the “unreliable narrator”. If you've seen the movie The Usual Suspects, then you'll have a very good grasp on what I mean. I won't spoil the movie for you, but it is a perfect example.
What happens in my books though is a little different. The narrators, which is the characters whose head we see the story through in each book, aren't trying to be deceptive to you my dear readers or to me the author. They see the world through their own eyes. Their own experiences. There are a lot of things that they don't know. Things that happen to another couple aren't necessarily known by the one you're currently reading.
This leads to the appearance of discrepancy or confusions. Let me give you an example that I've had several emails about. In Book 32 of Red Planet Dragons of Tajss - Dragon's Beauty we meet Wrenlee.
Wrenlee was friends with Ziva. Now if you're an avid reader you know that Ziva is alive and well and her story is being told in the Red Planet Jungle and Red Planet Fated Mates stories. But Wrenlee and her friends all believe that Ziva is dead.
You see they haven't seen her or heard from her since the Generation ship crashed. As far as they know, she died with everyone else that is not with them. Now you, the reader, or more “omniscient” than the characters are. So, you know she's alive and well.
The limited viewpoint of the characters we experience each story through creates these situations where things don't always seem to add up. It's not (usually) because I've made a mistake, though that does happen as I'm not perfect. It's usually because of the limited knowledge of the characters in the story you are currently reading.
It's a fun aspect of storytelling and I'll be honest when I do the second draft on a book one of the things I'm watching for, and fixing is things that this character doesn't actually know. Trying to make sure that the knowledge they display on the page is knowledge they have an actual reason to know. Things they have themselves seen or experienced.
I hope you've enjoyed this bit of storytelling technique. Maybe you already knew about this idea or maybe not. For me I love writing so much and even now, years into my career, I constantly strive to learn new things. Explore new techniques or improve my understanding of how to tell you an amazing story that you will hold dear to your heart.
Have you read other books or series that have unreliable narrators? If so, would you please share them with me? Or send me your thoughts about this storytelling technique. I love hearing from you!