Ask the Bard #25: Assumptions, Misconceptions, and Ego
This week's worldbuilding advice column sent Haly crawling through the archives to gather up even more information on crafting and identifying unreliable narrators in fiction.
Q: What is an unreliable narrator and what is the best way to use one?
TL;DR: Unreliable narrators are one of my love languages.
Ok, not really, but Jesus fuck how I love it when the main character’s hubris pulls the rug out from under me!
Y’all, I almost always know how a story ends. Because I’m a Bard. I craft stories. So the same way that a carpenter can look at a table she hasn’t made and still know how it was built, I can read a new story and know how it’s going to end. It really is something of a curse. (Anyone want to talk about my theories on the Kingkiller Chronicles? DM me.)
So, what is an unreliable narrator? This is a literary device where the narrative perspective is misleading. One of the most famous uses of this device is the movie The Usual Suspects. My favorite use in a movie is What Lies Beneath, which I covered when I wrote about this topic back in November, along with some more references to the most perfect movie in cinematic history, Clue.
From a worldbuilding perspective — because character background, motivation, and psychology are all a part of worldbuilding — the most effective way to craft an unreliable narrator is through the character’s own hubris.
Sure. You can have a character who’s a liar, you can tell your audience right off that your main character is a con artist, an insurance seller, or a politician. But making a bold declaration and then maintaining an interesting and compelling story full of rising tension and drama becomes incredibly difficult.
I suspect, if you were comfortable enough with the concept of an unreliable narrator to try it so boldly, then you wouldn’t have asked the question. So let’s look at some easier ways to craft an unreliable narrator.
Holy Hopping Hubris, Batman!
The easiest way to craft an unreliable narrator is through assumptions, misconceptions, and ego. Telling a story from the perspective of someone who didn’t check their facts, didn’t talk to the source, or just doesn’t believe that they can be wrong about something. Here’s a quick example.
Melissa couldn’t help a smirk as she wrote her name across the top of her math test. This was the exam that would reinstate her to the swimming team, and she was about to ace it!
“If you have extra time, make sure to check your work!” Mr. Ford’s usual advice rolled off of her as it always did. “Begin!”
Her pencil flew down the page, eyes barely skimming the questions as she filled in bubble after bubble with the proper answers. She’d worked so hard prepping for this exam — studying, drilling, memorizing — until she knew it all by heart.
It was with confusion that she looked over the bright red F printed at the top of the packet when it was returned to her the next day. The grade was accompanied by that most dreaded of notes: SEE ME. At Mr. Ford’s, she discovered it was worse than she thought.
“I’m not a fool, Melissa,” he said, disappointment clear in his tone. He slid a sheet of paper across the desk. It was titled “FORD WINTER FINAL ANSWER KEY.” It was a copy of the same answer key she’d used to study for the test. “I know how to search the internet, too. Furthermore, I know the material; a skill which allowed me to make a new test.”
In this story, we meet Melissa, a student taking a math test. We give her a strong motive, and a shady past. Reinstate. She needs to pass a test, to be put back on the team, which means she’s probably on some sort of academic probation for either grades or behavior…or both.
Right away, the teacher gives a warning. Check your work. In hindsight, it’s clear that this is a warning to everyone who is cheating. But we don’t know that, because Melissa isn’t telling us that. Melissa is telling us that this is business as normal.
She tells us that she prepped for the test by studying, drilling, memorizing…all things you would do for a math test. Also things you would do if you were memorizing the answers from an answer key. It’s her confident attitude — that hubris, that ego, that “I can’t be wrong” mentality — that carries us right along into the carefully crafted misconception.
As for Best Uses…
…this, as ever, is a matter of what you’re trying to accomplish.
Unreliable narrators are hallmarks in thrillers, horror, and mysteries. They’re also popular in children’s media! Kids make AMAZING unreliable narrators. Why? Because children do not have fully developed brains, lack experience and context, and are motivated almost exclusively by ego.
If you need a better example, then watch just about any episode of Bob’s Burgers where it’s a Louise story. Louise is a notoriously unreliable narrator. “I know what will solve this problem!” but then proceeds to make it worse. That, too, is a version of an unreliable narrator, and one that is particularly central to many comedy formats, especially sitcoms.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for another amazing round of questions for this week’s column. Let me know in the comments who are YOUR favorite unreliable narrators?
I always think of "the sixth sense" when I think of unreliable narrator
In the case of Memento or A Beautiful Mind, the narrators are both unreliable but due to brain injuries. Neither of them are lying per se, but the result is the same. How would someone write that story in a way that's fair to the reader especially if the MC has no clue anything is wrong?