Single inverted commas

Although it is usual to enclose a word under discussion in single inverted commas, I have chosen instead to emphasise it in red to prevent confusion with apostrophes.
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Friday 18 January 2013

OMNISCIENT NARRATION

This term is used of the method of a novelist who remains the author and does not take the point of view of a character. He or she is all-knowing and can describe everything and everyone in the story using the third-person pronouns: he, she, it and they. The advantage is the freedom to relate all events without restriction although the effect can sometimes be to distance the figures so that the reader does not relate closely to them. The narrator may slide into the mind of a character without this being very obvious and this brings the person nearer. A good example is Jane Austen's Emma.
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  1. Jonathan29 January 2013 at 16:05

    Sometimes movies are introduced by the omniscient story-teller. Then, before you know it, you forget that you are 'channeling' the point of view and recollections of the novelist (screenplay writer) and are transported into the head of the author and experience the movie through his or her eyes.

    A method often used is a person reading a book to a child at the start of a film. Then, before we know it, we are in the story.

    It all ends happily and cut to the book being closed and we realise have been seeing through the voice of the writer all along!

    Omniscient and yet so artfully constructed we lose track of the author for the duration of the movie.

    So are more novels omniscient than we realise? Are some overt while others remain covert? Barbara is it this black or white?

    I am writing a series of books for children age seven to ten and wonder about this.

    Are there prefatory written devices in novels that compare with the metaphorical 'once upon a time' or book opening and closing?

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    1. Barbara Daniels31 January 2013 at 09:49

      Thank you so much for this perceptive and fascinating comment, Jonathan. I can think only of examples where the "he" or "she" of omniscient narration slide seamlessly into point of view without a prefatory signal. This means that fewer novels are purely omniscient that we may believe but most are not discrete in classification. I will ponder further and hope others do also. Good luck with your writing: your approach is so thoughtful that I am sure you will succeed.

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