Seminar 1.2

Seminar 1.2

by Bryce Hespe

​Four Types of Unreliable Narrators

• ​The Innocent

  • ​They are naive to the facts

  • ​a child or childlike character

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• The Deluded/Insane​

  • ​They believe they are telling the truth.

  • ​sometimes evil

• ​The Outsider

  • ​They don't fit in with the usual crowd; they see the world differently.

  • may be new in town

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• ​The Liar/Tall Teller

  • ​They exaggerate and even lie to the reader.

  • ​sometimes evil

Multiple Choice

Which character is the BEST example of an unreliable narrator?

• A cook who goes to work in a restaurant and notices all the staff cutting corners

• A small child who always misses the point of what the adults around her are doing

• A god who makes fun of the trials of mortals and likes to interfere in their little lives

• A reporter who captures footage of Bigfoot but can't convince anyone that it's real

Multiple Choice

Which character is the BEST example of an unreliable narrator?

• An athlete who comes in second place and tries to find out what she did wrong

• A reporter who captures footage of Bigfoot but can't convince anyone that it's real

• A lord who tries to understand commoners but just can't grasp why they're always working

• An antelope who tries to escape from a pack of wolves after becoming separated from the herd

What is Character Motivation?

• Is the reason why a character wants to do something in the story

• Maybe....they want an object, want to do something

Questions you can ask when thinking about character motivation...

• Why is the character doing that?

• Why is the character acting that way?

• What do you think the character is hoping to get from this?

Multiple Choice

Trent’s bike was getting too small and just wasn’t cool anymore. Trent was watching TV and saw the new Bike Racer 2000 and knew he had to have it. He could no longer ride that old bike. All he could think about was how amazing he would look on the new bike and how smooth the bike would ride. He counted how much money he had and realized he needed $50. He went out and did chores for his parents and jobs for the neighbors until he earned $50. He went and bought the bike right away. Woohoo!

What was Trent's motivation?

• the new bike

• doing chores

• $50

Multiple Choice

Jacinda's father had dreams for her. Each day, she was made to practice the piano for hours, until she could hear the scales in her head and thought her fingers might fall off. Every day was the same. Under the covers, however, Jacinda pored over comic books and spent her nights practicing her drawing. She knew what she'd rather do with her life.

Which statement BEST explains how Jack's motivation leads to a conflict in the story?

• Jacinda's desire to read comic books shows that she cannot obey her father.

• Jacinda's pride in her skill causes her to disagree with her father about whether she is good at the piano.

• Jacinda's hatred of music makes her resent her father.

• Jacinda's passion for art clashes with her father's goals for her.

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of point of view?

• to let the characters know what the reader can see or hear

• to express the character's thoughts and allow the reader to see and hear the story in different ways

• to let the reader know what the author knows about a story

• to express the author's thoughts and feelings and allow the reader to know what the character's know

3rd Person, Limited and Omniscient

• The author is telling the story and is talking about the characters

• Key words: They, She, He, Him, Her

• 3rd Person Limited: The narrator knows the feelings of 1 character in the story

• 3rd Person Omniscient: The narrator knows ALL characters thoughts and feeling.

Multiple Choice

What is special about third person limited?

• The thoughts of most characters are revealed

• The thoughts of all characters are revealed

• The thoughts of one character is not revealed

• The thoughts of one character is revealed

Multiple Choice

An author would write from a first-person point of view in order to:

• involve the reader as a character within the story.

• develop several characters, each of whose thoughts and actions are part of the story.

• develop a character whose inner thoughts make up the whole story.

• tell a story in as detached a manner as possible.

Multiple Choice

Which point of view would be best if an author wants to develop a character whose inner thoughts make up the whole story?

• Third-persom omniscient

• Third-person limited

• First person

• Second person

Multiple Choice

Joe and Billy were planning a game of soccer. Joe thought they should play at the park. Billy thought they should play at Joe's house. Billy and Joe finally agreed to play and the school park.

• third person limited

• third person omnicient

• first person

Multiple Choice

She went to her best friend's house to study. When she got there, she noticed how big her best friend's dog, Jasper, had gotten. They went outside and rode bikes, had dinner, and then she went back home.

• First Person

• Third Person Limited

• Third Person Omniscient

• Second Person