Who Is Telling This Story, Anyway?

Well, you are, of course!! Right? Yes, you are. But. . . there are a few tricks here. If you would like to join and publish on www.kidswrite4kids.com, keeping what you read here in mind will help you write a better story.

First Person Narration--

You may decide to pretend to be the character you made up. This is called First Person Narration. The teller of the story is inside the story talking about himself or herself, saying “I.”

This can be great fun for your Dream Mind because you become a kind of actor.

Here's a way to think about it: Draw a circle. Now imagine that everything in your story happens inside that circle. In First Person Narration, the teller of the story is inside the circle. The teller of the story--the narrator--is part of the story. Some or all of what happens in the story happens to the narrator.

First Person Narration sounds like this:

I want to tell you the story of the day my cat played the drums. I came home from my job at the cookie factory, and what do you think I saw?! My cat Jacque playing a drum!

“Good grief, Jacque!” I yelled. “When did you learn to do that?”

Third Person Narration--

On the other hand, you may decide to have your storyteller stand outside the story. This is called Third Person Narration. The narrator says “he” or “she” in this case.

Bob dragged himself home from his job at the cookie factory, thinking he’d spend the evening playing games on his computer. But when he opened the door to his house, there sat Jacque, his cat, playing a drum.

“Good grief, Jacque!” Bob yelled. “When did you learn to do that?”

In this case, the teller of the story is standing outside looking in. The teller of the story is outside the circle, is not a character in the story.

Your Challenge--
Choose whether your narrator is inside or outside the story, and then try to stay with that choice all the way through the story.

Watch for the next blog entry! See you then!
Back to www.kidswrite4kids.com