Quiz: What kind of Narrator are you?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

How about a quiz?

What kind of narrator are you?

My answer: the epistolary narrator

the story is told through your diaries and letters, meaning everything has a deeply emotional and personal bent to it. you're not always the most objective narrator - and why should you be, it's your diary! - but you're usually truthful and always endearing. much of what the reader knows about the others comes from how you write to and about them, lending you a surprising amount of control over the narrative. whether or not you're entirely fair in your depictions depends on your genre... and what mood you're in that day.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I'm a biased narrator

close cousin of the unreliable narrator, but less obvious - even to yourself. you're not intentionally lying to your reader, and nothing you say is an outright lie, but it's colored by your own perceptions, and this ain't an omniscient narrator situation. you're emotionally invested in everything that happens, and you have Opinions on everyone you meet, and that bleeds through in how you describe things. you're mostly a good source of information, but your audience may have to read things once or twice more to get the full, unbiased story.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I don't think you're unusual in having Opinions or having your perceptions color things and given that you are (as far as I know!) not a deity (except sometimes I do have the urge to set up a small shrine to you as the patron of concise casefic) so omniscience I don't think is something to realistically aspire to.

Maybe your audience may have to read things [about Ferrets] to get a full, unbiased story [about just how deep your mustelid love runs].

[kingstoken]

I got

the first-person smartass
remember that tumblr post saying "my sarcastic internal monologue is the best thing i've got going for me" or something to that effect? that's you. you refuse to take anything too seriously, and even with the rare event that does force you to treat it with any sort of weight, you still face with dry, sardonic commentary. you will snark at anything and anyone; minor inconveniences, life-changing disasters, your family, your friends, authority figures, even yourself. if you ever stop snarking, it's a real cause for concern. that's how everyone knows shit has officially gotten real.

I'm not sure how I feel about this

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh, dear. That's not the impression you give online. :/

[kingstoken]

I don't think that is the impression I give generally, at least I hope not.

[lunabee34]

I got biased narrator. LOL

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha, ha! Too bad. If you had omniscience, you might have seen the bear!

[write_out]

Ooh interesting! How do you feel about yours?

I'm not too sure how to feel about my result:

the unreliable narrator

whether you're intentionally lying, or you genuinely have no idea that what you see isn't the truth, your readers cannot trust you at all - not when it comes to getting the facts, at least. as a narrator and character, you're thoroughly entertaining and complex, and will probably become the source of a few dozen thesis statements in any given semester. trying to pin down what your true motivations are, and sort out what's real and what's not are fool's errands, but that won't stop anyone.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I liked mine, that's why I posted the quiz, but I don't know about the rest of the options. They don't seem to be as interesting. Yours is an interesting psychological question, I think: am I a reliable narrator?

[autumnia]

I got the epistolary narrator too!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ah, ha! Kindred spirits. I definitely prefer that one to the ones others have posted.