Activity+3+Narrative+Voice

Narratives can be written from a variety of different perspectives through their __Narrative Voice__. Two examples are shown below:
 * __Narrative Voice__

1st Person uses the pronoun "I" to describe what is happening from the characters point of view; "I woke up that morning and stumbled sleepily out of bed. The cool air snuck in under my window sill and sent a chill down my spine..." 3rd person refers to the action happening in the story through the voice of a __narrator;__ "Ben woke up that morning and stumbled sleepily out of bed. The cool air snuck in under the window sill, sending a chill down his spine..."

Stories can also be written in various __tense__. Be wary not to change the tense throughout your story. Two examples are shown below:

Present tense tells the story as it happens; "Walking down the street, I notice a small puppy..." Past tense tells the story as if it has already occurred; "As I walked down the street, I noticed a small puppy..."

__The effect of Narrative Voice and Tense__ There are lots of reasons to use certain narrative voice or tense.

Using a 1st person voice in the present tense can be useful for establishing __suspense__ as the character is not aware of what is happening next in the story. The reader is able to engage better with the characters emotions because the story is being told by the character who is experiencing the action, not a narrator. Using a 3rd person voice might be better to use when telling the story of a lot of characters or different perspectives as the narrator can tell the reader information one character alone would not be able to.

Homework: Find a paragraph from a short story or novel. Re write it using a different narrative voice. Extension: Explain the effect on the story when the narrative voice is changed Extension 2: Re-write the paragraph using a different tense eg. present or past**