: Re: Can your narrator talk to the reader of the novel? This is an excerpt from a novel I have started writing. Penry laughed. His face changed instantly. His disbelief changed into happiness,

@Kaufman555

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Clarifying as per discussion below:

It depends on how far you are planning to go in terms of addressing the reader. As pointed out, it is quite common in a first person narrative for the narrator to address the reader directly in terms of expressing thoughts, musings, questions, and so on, when the listener is a vague audience, e.g.

'I know I was in the wrong, but she wasn't going to leave me, right?'

Whereas, breaking the 'forth wall' and talking directly to your specific reader is less common and can smack of authorial intrusion if not handled correctly. E.g.:

'Now, reader, you might think I was wrong, and you may think she
should leave me, but you're just going to have to read the next two
hundred pages to find out what happens.'

In The Book Thief, the narrator is death and death addresses the reader directly. It's a fabulous example (in my humble opinion) of this style.

Breaking the forth wall like this is rarely done and though it's fine to break rules, it is better to understand them fully before you attempt it.

TBF was Markus Zusak's fifth published novel, and he'd already won a number of accolades for his previous works. He knew exactly what he was doing and he did it well.

Having death narrate his book and talk directly to the reader works well because: death is a narrator completely separate from the writer so it doesn't smack of authorial intrusion; it's set in Germany during the Holocaust and death is everywhere; death has his own perspective on all that mindless killing; death isn't entirely omniscient, and can only speak from his own experience.

Breaking the forth wall needs to be handled with caution. If you don't create a convincing character in the narrator, and it smacks of authorial intrusion, you could alienate the reader. You wrote the story, you know the whole story, so the reader could feel cheated by what you reveal and what you hold back. And, if you go too far, as in telling the reader that they shouldn't be worried right now, because it isn't a dream. You're telling them what to think and feel. And the last thing readers want is to be told what to think.

If this is your first novel, I would HIGHLY recommend that you think very carefully before proceeding. Writing a novel is hard enough without making it even more difficult for yourself. But, that very much depends on where you're going with it. If you're just writing this for yourself, or as a classroom experiment, go for it, have fun! But, if you plan on submitting to agents and publishers, it's worth keeping in mind how tough this business is. Publishers are extremely cautious. They don't like taking risks. And breaking norms will raise caution flags for them.

Also, if you do proceed with it, make sure it's for the right reason: because the nature of your story demands it, and your story will be improved by this style of narration.

Good luck!

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