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Why Use an Unreliable Narrator?

Why Use an Unreliable Narrator?

And why "The Remains of the Day" might have the greatest narrator of all time

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Andy Smarick
Aug 15, 2024
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Why Use an Unreliable Narrator?
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This is the weekly paid-subscribers-only Community Day column. Please join!

My novel uses an unreliable narrator. His unreliability is central to the story—it’s arguably the single most important aspect of the book.

It’s certainly at the core of my purpose as the author. It’s also part of what makes the reader stay engaged over 80,000 words and some pretty dark episodes. And without it, the last 50 pages wouldn’t work, and the end I wanted wouldn’t be possible.

Now, with all of that said…My Lord, it is HARD to write with an unreliable narrator!

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