Unreliable Narrator

1. Your task is to take on the persona of an unreliable narrator and tell a story from that character’s point of view. You will choose three slips of paper, which you will return to each box, to define the type of unreliable narrator, the setting, and the conflict of your story. Requirements: Your story must consist of at least 5 paragraphs of no less than 7 sentences per paragraph. The story must be written in blue or black ink pen and include an MLA heading. Short Story Project – January 21, 2014 Unreliable Narrator Good Luck!

2. Outline • Students will evaluate their understanding of the theme Unreliable Narrator by writing an outline for a story from that point of view. • You will create a detailed outline for a potential short story of your own that adheres to the following guidelines: • First person POV • The story is told from the point of view of the narrator including the narrator’s opinions and experiences. • Unreliable narrator: the narrator lies, exaggerates, etc. • You must include clues to the unreliability of your narrator throughout the story.

3. Characteristics of an Unreliable Narrator (Plot) • Your story must portray the point of view of the narrator (first person, i.e. “I” or “We”) • However, your story cannot be one dimensional, meaning there must be an underlying story aside from what the narrator tells us that provides the reader with the truth. • An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised • The nature of the narrator is sometimes immediately clear. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to the character's unreliability. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. This twist ending forces readers to reconsider their point of view and experience of the story.

4. Characteristics of an Unreliable Narrator (Plot) • Examples: • The Pícaro: a narrator who is characterized by exaggeration and bragging. • The Madman: A narrator who is either only experiencing mental defense mechanisms, such as (post-traumatic) dissociation and self-alienation, or severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia or paranoia. • The Liar: A mature narrator of sound cognition who deliberately misrepresents himself, often to obscure his unseemly or discreditable past conduct.

5. Conflict • You have the option to choose your own conflict or use one of the situations provided. • When developing your conflict, keep in mind the different types of conflict. • What is your character battling when put under the constraints of the situation? • Person VS. Self • Person VS. Person • Person VS. Society • Person VS. Nature • Person VS. Supernatural

6. Setting • Your story must include the following types of sense imagery: • Visual ImageryThis the most frequent type of imagery used to recreate a certain image. • The crimson liquid spilled from the neck of the white dove, staining and matting its pure, white feathers. • Auditory ImageryAuditory imagery is the mental representation of any sound and it is vital in imagining and feeling a situation. • "....Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar…”

7. Setting • Your story must include all of the following types of sense imagery: • Olfactory ImageryOlfactory imagery is related to smell and this imagery helps summon and deliver the smells to the reader. • "I was awakened by the strong smell of a freshly brewed coffee.“ • Gustatory Imagery Gustatory imagery illustrates and recreates the tastes, of food or many other things. • "Tumbling through the ocean water after being overtaken by the monstrous wave, Mark unintentionally took a gulp of the briny, bitter mass, causing him to cough and gag." • Tactile imageryTactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch by presenting attributes like hardness, softness or hot and cold sensations. • 'The bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes snow.' From Robert Frost's "The Witch of Coos"

8. Presentation Reveal your narrator’s condition Climax • Set-up: Give your reader subtle clues of your narrators unreliability, describe events that create a shift in atmosphere creating a problem to be fixed (hint: foreshadowing) Reveal the other characters’ reactions to the narrator, reveal the flaws in the previous narration Falling Action Rising Action Provide a resolution to the problem, reveal the ending state of mind of the narrator Introduce narrator, describe the setting, create the atmosphere Resolution Exposition