uj/ What books have the unreliable narrator lying to you because they like to lie? How would you even know theyโre lying to you since youโre only getting their perspective?
uj/ There's Nick Dunne in Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, who at one point admits to the reader that his narrative didn't mentioned his mistress until she shows up in it because he knew it would make him look bad. And of course Amy's first narrative is also an in-universe document that's designed to make Nick look guilty, which she freely admits to the reader later on.
Other than that, there are some books where paying close attention to what's being said can reveal when a narrator isn't being truthful. A classic example is Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, where the narrative starts out as an in-universe account of a case from the point of view of a character who is lying by omission to keep a secret, and ultimately the narrator is revealed to have been the murderer all along. So the narrator is initially trying to use the text to deceive the investigator, but if you're paying attention there's hints that something isn't right, and in the end it turns into a confession, where the narrator even calls the reader's attention to some places where they hid the truth. It's a very interesting work of crime fiction and well worth a read if you like the genre.
So a narrator can intentionally lie for a few different reasons. To make themselves look better, to try to hide something from the reader, or to advance an agenda in some way, maybe. Usually an author writing a character like this will be pretty deliberate in either having the narrative itself contradict what a narrator has said, framing them as dishonest by either having them imply or state that they lie a lot (Holden Caulfield does this in I think the first chapter of The Catcher in the Rye), or even by having them directly admit to lying about the events of the narrative. The first one is easy to do if there are multiple narrators, you can just have one narrator describe a scene differently from another, but it's possible in single-narrator texts too. Having a character the narrator has described as physically weak do something that would require physical strength could be one way to make the reader question the narrator's truthfulness. You can also have a narrator write in a style that readers associate with a degree of dishonesty. H. G. Wells did this with The War of the Worlds, which by the standards of his time was written in kind of a tabloid style. As for having the characters straight up admit to being dishonest, it doesn't sound like it should work, but it absolutely can. The author just needs to give a reason why the character has been dishonest. And of course an author can use more than one of these. That book I mentioned by Gillian Flynn arguably uses all of them. Amy mentions that Nick finds women over the age of 40 gross in her diary, but he describes some of the 40+-year old women at the volunteer centre as being attractive. He also tells the reader pretty early on that "the lie by omission is his favorite". A diary can be a pretty self-serving form of narrative, though definitely not as unreliable as a tabloid newspaper, and of course Amy eventually starts talking directly to the reader about the process of writing it.
Sorry about the wall of text and also the abundance of spoiler tags, but in crime and thriller works knowing the plot twists can really change the experience and I wouldn't want to ruin these books for a potential new reader. I recommend not even unspoilering the title if you don't already feel like you know what I'm talking about (or just don't mind spoilers, what do I know).
/uj A classic example is Nabokovโs Lolita - the narrator is intentionally lying to you because he wants you to believe he is not a complete monster. Heโs a pedophile preying on a 12 year old girl, but he does not want the reader to see him that way. Unfortunately, heโs so effective at it that many readers have believed him that Lolita is a love story, not a horror story told from the perspective of the villain.
I actually think โunreliable narrator is deliberately trying to deceive youโ might even be a more novel idea than โunreliable narrator is telling you the truth as they understand it.โ One of the usual assumptions of stories is that the reader/audience is a neutral observer who exists entirely outside the world of the story. The logical extension of this idea is that first person narration is simply seeing the story through the narratorโs eyes. Having the narrator actively lie to you requires the narrator to be aware of you as the audience. Itโs a very subtle breaking of the fourth wall.
Erik1801 ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 04:16:45 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
the narrator is intentionally lying to you because he wants you to believe he is not a complete monster.
Reading Lolita rn, idk if i fully agree. To me it seems the narrator and the way he is unreliable is much closer to "Drinking your own collate" than anything intentional. Granted, i am only 80 pages in but so far at least he seems to justify his own actions and is very much aware of who he is.
For instance,>! the way he describes pulling at strings like a spider to find Dolores is not very ambiguous insofar as to how he sees himself. Similarly, during the uhm couch scene he argues in retrospect it was not bad because Dolores did not notice it, nobody did. Hence no harm was done. He also uses a significant number of negative words to describe himself. And i get the feeling, more than anything, he enjoys this double life. Similarly to how he liked to "run laps" around the Therapists. Though i suspect H.H. and his unreliable narrator greatly distorting how subtle he is. Thinks a lot of himself, and his capabilities. But in practice there are already so many instances of him / the narrator lying it seems to me this hubris will be his downfall. But i am speculating. Though you could argue he has the intend of being "better", like how he says he is not a Pedophile and would never touch a !<really child.>! !<
That being said, the book is written amazingly well. Like sheesh, i though my writing got better and then i read the first ( THE FUCKING FIRST ) page of Lolita and was like "Yeah fuck this, i will never write that good ffs".
Itโs just a warhammer book but Head of the Hydraโs first sentence is โI am Alpharius. This is a lie.โ as a direct statement to the reader. However, I think most of the rest is written as truthful, probably?
I mean, there's nothing to say that you are only getting their perspective, right? If we are dealing with 3rd person limited - then the "unreliableness" of the narrator really comes from the unreliability of the subject who's head we are in. A different scene may have a different perspective because it's in someone else's head - perhaps someone who's more reliable.
It may not be clear to the reader who the "unreliable" one is and that is likely what drives the narrative.
The Black Prism has two perspectives where the narrator lies about the identity of the character whose limited perspective it's following. One character stole another's identity, and the other just accepted the opposite identity, and the both lie even to the audience of which name they have to fully sell how deep into the lie one of them is. And it's shown over the series how much the initial liar enjoys controlling people by BS-ing them.
[deleted] ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 08:53:34 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Black leopard red wolf, the whole trilogy is about a the same set of events told by three different narrators. As a matter of fact the first book opens with the line โbi oju ri enu a pomoโ which means โnot everything the eyes see should spoken by the mouth
/uj It's a major spoiler for the book, but Agatha Christie's the murder of Roger Ackroyd has an unreliable narrator because the protagonist turns out to be the killer
I'm late to the party, but Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. The narrator intentionally changes identities in the story and is lying because they're, well, a bad monkey.
It's very hard to read because it makes me want to hop on my pop but he is 65 and I feel worried that he might die one of the next times I hop on him.
bbggl ยท 403 points ยท Posted at 04:00:06 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
omg i just read some book called lolita and it was this exactly???? like how???? i mean okay he plagiarized the name from the lolicons but other than that it was really good????
/uj Lolita is, I think, a rare example where the narrator is actually lying. I feel like stories where the narrator isnโt fully aware of what is actually happening are the more common way of doing the trope. In Lolita, the narrator is lying to the reader in an effort to gain their sympathy. Itโs pretty clear from his actions that he knows Delores is not deliberately seducing him and that he is in control of the relationship. Itโs just that heโs so effective at lying that some readers, even if they see he is not telling the truth, believe he really believes what heโs saying.
FuuraKafu ยท 10 points ยท Posted at 13:54:05 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
/uj I read Lolita a few years ago and I don't remember what you mean. The narrator is obviously a creep, but what is he lying about?
He's only unreliable in the sense he soft pedals how awful he is and is lying to himself about being a pedophile. But it's kind of clear to the audience what is happening though as he doesn't leave out damning details.
To me Humbert is definitely an unreliable narrator. His entire view system on nymphets and the idea that Dolores "seduced" him is just straight out insanity.
>! ฮ donโt think it is insanity, I think itโs a deliberate lie to gain the audienceโs sympathy.!< I also think, the fact that so many people interpret it as delusion is a testament to the fact that โunreliable narrator who is unaware of/unable to see the whole truthโ is a more common trope than โunreliable narrator who is deliberately deceiving the audience.โ
When I said insanity I didn't mean clinical insanity I basically meant buckwild. But I also don't think it's a deliberate lie. I think Humbert genuinely believes the things he says amd genuinely believes he's the victim.
I realize you meant buckwild. We canโt really know what Nabokov intended, but to me, it read like a deliberate attempt to gain sympathy and justify his actions. The way Humbert Humbert describes events unfolding just sounds a lot like the way Iโve heard abusive and predatory people try to justify their actions as โaccidentsโ or โreasonable things anyone could have done.โ It seems to me that Nabokov understands this type of person well enough not to believe those lies, and as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse himself, his sympathies lie with Delores, not with Humbert. Obviously, Humbert Humbert is a fictional character who doesnโt have an intent and we cannot know what Nabokov was going for, but to me, it reads like heโs lying.
I guess I'm being too restrictive. From what I recall it's obvious to the reader that he isn't really being seduced but I suppose that's not critical to a narrator being unreliable.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 20:59:21 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
Also, I'm not sure I would make this argument myself, but while reading the book I was skeptical about the convenience of Charlotte's death and not entirely convinced that Humbert had nothing to do with it, as Dolores later suspects as well. This would make him a much more concrete unreliable narrator. Of course it depends on your interpretation, but all to say that there is gray area in Humbert's framing of events.
BRB I'm gonna write a book from the perspective of an alcoholic Midwesterner recalling the tragic and fantastical summer he spent with his cousin and mysterious neighbor
smathna ยท 31 points ยท Posted at 04:51:18 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I think I remember reading a book... Barbies' Virgin? No, Barney Verbal? Barney's Version? Anyway, I forgot.
i wanna see her come up with more innovative takes such as "hey guys you know the enemies to lovers trope? imagine if they were like actual enemies.. like, trying to actually kill each other. has anyone ever done this omg itd be so exciting"
My characters never tell the truth โ not about the plot or themselves or anything.
My current masterpiece has the audience thinking it takes place in a small Chicago suburb and follows a single mother struggling to make ends meet while she fights against the odds to follow her dreams of becoming an exotic dancer.
But little do my idiot readers know that the REAL protagonist is a veteran orc warrior named Oog and this is all just his daydream before he goes into battle.
MrHonwe ยท 8 points ยท Posted at 12:51:22 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Maybe we can put a spin on that and give the narrator anterograde amnesia!
That's literally one, granted it's like THE big red one and if you were referring to the 1st infantry division of the United States army then bravo, you gave him 10-15 thousand examples. Which I must commend on the clever and stunning wordplay. You sir/ma'am/they/them/xi/xer/xim/xer/sonicOc are a literally wordsmith of ages past, not unlike the epic vikingar skalds of old.
I never understand how some people think of something and are like "Its so simple, how has no one else in the history of human existence EVER considered doing this?"
The answer is that it has been done before and you are not original.
Saved comment
orionstarboy ยท 598 points ยท Posted at 06:38:21 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Area Tiktoker figures out why unreliable narrators are used in 90% of cases
bamboo_fanatic ยท 155 points ยท Posted at 09:59:44 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
uj/ What books have the unreliable narrator lying to you because they like to lie? How would you even know theyโre lying to you since youโre only getting their perspective?
migratingcoconut_ ยท 143 points ยท Posted at 13:34:56 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
diary of a wimpy kid
ohsurenerd ยท 95 points ยท Posted at 12:11:06 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
uj/ There's Nick Dunne in Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, who at one point admits to the reader that his narrative didn't mentioned his mistress until she shows up in it because he knew it would make him look bad. And of course Amy's first narrative is also an in-universe document that's designed to make Nick look guilty, which she freely admits to the reader later on.
Other than that, there are some books where paying close attention to what's being said can reveal when a narrator isn't being truthful. A classic example is Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, where the narrative starts out as an in-universe account of a case from the point of view of a character who is lying by omission to keep a secret, and ultimately the narrator is revealed to have been the murderer all along. So the narrator is initially trying to use the text to deceive the investigator, but if you're paying attention there's hints that something isn't right, and in the end it turns into a confession, where the narrator even calls the reader's attention to some places where they hid the truth. It's a very interesting work of crime fiction and well worth a read if you like the genre.
So a narrator can intentionally lie for a few different reasons. To make themselves look better, to try to hide something from the reader, or to advance an agenda in some way, maybe. Usually an author writing a character like this will be pretty deliberate in either having the narrative itself contradict what a narrator has said, framing them as dishonest by either having them imply or state that they lie a lot (Holden Caulfield does this in I think the first chapter of The Catcher in the Rye), or even by having them directly admit to lying about the events of the narrative. The first one is easy to do if there are multiple narrators, you can just have one narrator describe a scene differently from another, but it's possible in single-narrator texts too. Having a character the narrator has described as physically weak do something that would require physical strength could be one way to make the reader question the narrator's truthfulness. You can also have a narrator write in a style that readers associate with a degree of dishonesty. H. G. Wells did this with The War of the Worlds, which by the standards of his time was written in kind of a tabloid style. As for having the characters straight up admit to being dishonest, it doesn't sound like it should work, but it absolutely can. The author just needs to give a reason why the character has been dishonest. And of course an author can use more than one of these. That book I mentioned by Gillian Flynn arguably uses all of them. Amy mentions that Nick finds women over the age of 40 gross in her diary, but he describes some of the 40+-year old women at the volunteer centre as being attractive. He also tells the reader pretty early on that "the lie by omission is his favorite". A diary can be a pretty self-serving form of narrative, though definitely not as unreliable as a tabloid newspaper, and of course Amy eventually starts talking directly to the reader about the process of writing it.
Sorry about the wall of text and also the abundance of spoiler tags, but in crime and thriller works knowing the plot twists can really change the experience and I wouldn't want to ruin these books for a potential new reader. I recommend not even unspoilering the title if you don't already feel like you know what I'm talking about (or just don't mind spoilers, what do I know).
friendlyfriends123 ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 10:20:13 on February 26, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
/uj woah, thatโs a really insightful response! thanks!
Applesplosion ยท 34 points ยท Posted at 21:32:02 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
/uj A classic example is Nabokovโs Lolita - the narrator is intentionally lying to you because he wants you to believe he is not a complete monster. Heโs a pedophile preying on a 12 year old girl, but he does not want the reader to see him that way. Unfortunately, heโs so effective at it that many readers have believed him that Lolita is a love story, not a horror story told from the perspective of the villain.
I actually think โunreliable narrator is deliberately trying to deceive youโ might even be a more novel idea than โunreliable narrator is telling you the truth as they understand it.โ One of the usual assumptions of stories is that the reader/audience is a neutral observer who exists entirely outside the world of the story. The logical extension of this idea is that first person narration is simply seeing the story through the narratorโs eyes. Having the narrator actively lie to you requires the narrator to be aware of you as the audience. Itโs a very subtle breaking of the fourth wall.
Erik1801 ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 04:16:45 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Reading Lolita rn, idk if i fully agree. To me it seems the narrator and the way he is unreliable is much closer to "Drinking your own collate" than anything intentional. Granted, i am only 80 pages in but so far at least he seems to justify his own actions and is very much aware of who he is.
For instance,>! the way he describes pulling at strings like a spider to find Dolores is not very ambiguous insofar as to how he sees himself. Similarly, during the uhm couch scene he argues in retrospect it was not bad because Dolores did not notice it, nobody did. Hence no harm was done. He also uses a significant number of negative words to describe himself. And i get the feeling, more than anything, he enjoys this double life. Similarly to how he liked to "run laps" around the Therapists. Though i suspect H.H. and his unreliable narrator greatly distorting how subtle he is. Thinks a lot of himself, and his capabilities. But in practice there are already so many instances of him / the narrator lying it seems to me this hubris will be his downfall. But i am speculating. Though you could argue he has the intend of being "better", like how he says he is not a Pedophile and would never touch a !<really child.>! !<
That being said, the book is written amazingly well. Like sheesh, i though my writing got better and then i read the first ( THE FUCKING FIRST ) page of Lolita and was like "Yeah fuck this, i will never write that good ffs".
ColorMaelstrom ยท 46 points ยท Posted at 10:14:15 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Lolita I guess
Erik1801 ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 04:07:18 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
can confirm.
MannfredVonFartstein ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 20:08:29 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Itโs just a warhammer book but Head of the Hydraโs first sentence is โI am Alpharius. This is a lie.โ as a direct statement to the reader. However, I think most of the rest is written as truthful, probably?
dirtycrabcakes ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 16:15:31 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I mean, there's nothing to say that you are only getting their perspective, right? If we are dealing with 3rd person limited - then the "unreliableness" of the narrator really comes from the unreliability of the subject who's head we are in. A different scene may have a different perspective because it's in someone else's head - perhaps someone who's more reliable.
It may not be clear to the reader who the "unreliable" one is and that is likely what drives the narrative.
JustAnArtist1221 ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 17:21:25 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
The Black Prism has two perspectives where the narrator lies about the identity of the character whose limited perspective it's following. One character stole another's identity, and the other just accepted the opposite identity, and the both lie even to the audience of which name they have to fully sell how deep into the lie one of them is. And it's shown over the series how much the initial liar enjoys controlling people by BS-ing them.
[deleted] ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 08:53:34 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Black leopard red wolf, the whole trilogy is about a the same set of events told by three different narrators. As a matter of fact the first book opens with the line โbi oju ri enu a pomoโ which means โnot everything the eyes see should spoken by the mouth
WholesomeDucc ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 04:54:10 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Great Gatsby
Lord_Havelock ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 05:05:25 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
/uj It's a major spoiler for the book, but Agatha Christie's the murder of Roger Ackroyd has an unreliable narrator because the protagonist turns out to be the killer
DarknessWanders ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 07:17:29 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I'm late to the party, but Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. The narrator intentionally changes identities in the story and is lying because they're, well, a bad monkey.
Burnt-White-Toast ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 07:06:58 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Fight Club?
m00-00n ยท 185 points ยท Posted at 07:24:45 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
thats crazy... anyway just got done reading one fish two fish red fish blue fish, anyone got any recommendations? Hopefully not as scary
Icy_Pianist_1532 ยท 36 points ยท Posted at 13:32:28 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Hop on Pop is good, but it might be a little too intense
k_pineapple7 ยท 12 points ยท Posted at 19:10:09 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
It's very hard to read because it makes me want to hop on my pop but he is 65 and I feel worried that he might die one of the next times I hop on him.
bbggl ยท 403 points ยท Posted at 04:00:06 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
omg i just read some book called lolita and it was this exactly???? like how???? i mean okay he plagiarized the name from the lolicons but other than that it was really good????
๐๏ธ alengthofrope ยท 129 points ยท Posted at 04:36:47 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
omg do u think the arthur stole the idea from her? we should cancel them on booktok!!
bbggl ยท 16 points ยท Posted at 10:49:53 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Right? So shameless!!!ย ย
Applesplosion ยท 12 points ยท Posted at 21:40:23 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
/uj Lolita is, I think, a rare example where the narrator is actually lying. I feel like stories where the narrator isnโt fully aware of what is actually happening are the more common way of doing the trope. In Lolita, the narrator is lying to the reader in an effort to gain their sympathy. Itโs pretty clear from his actions that he knows Delores is not deliberately seducing him and that he is in control of the relationship. Itโs just that heโs so effective at lying that some readers, even if they see he is not telling the truth, believe he really believes what heโs saying.
FuuraKafu ยท 10 points ยท Posted at 13:54:05 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
/uj I read Lolita a few years ago and I don't remember what you mean. The narrator is obviously a creep, but what is he lying about?
melissabluejean ยท 12 points ยท Posted at 15:21:21 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Hmm I found this thread on the topic, might be interesting In "Lolita", is Humbert really an unreliable narrator?
BrokenEggcat ยท 16 points ยท Posted at 22:04:29 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
"To be fair, Humbert does present a few signs of mental illness when he keeps trying to fuck that little kid."
Great thread
melissabluejean ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 22:18:13 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
๐
FuuraKafu ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 15:38:19 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Thanks, skimmed through it. I personally wouldn't call him an unreliable narrator.
DreCapitanoII ยท 11 points ยท Posted at 18:50:14 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
He's only unreliable in the sense he soft pedals how awful he is and is lying to himself about being a pedophile. But it's kind of clear to the audience what is happening though as he doesn't leave out damning details.
๐๏ธ alengthofrope ยท 24 points ยท Posted at 19:45:31 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
To me Humbert is definitely an unreliable narrator. His entire view system on nymphets and the idea that Dolores "seduced" him is just straight out insanity.
Applesplosion ยท 8 points ยท Posted at 21:55:41 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
>! ฮ donโt think it is insanity, I think itโs a deliberate lie to gain the audienceโs sympathy.!< I also think, the fact that so many people interpret it as delusion is a testament to the fact that โunreliable narrator who is unaware of/unable to see the whole truthโ is a more common trope than โunreliable narrator who is deliberately deceiving the audience.โ
๐๏ธ alengthofrope ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 21:58:19 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
When I said insanity I didn't mean clinical insanity I basically meant buckwild. But I also don't think it's a deliberate lie. I think Humbert genuinely believes the things he says amd genuinely believes he's the victim.
Applesplosion ยท 4 points ยท Posted at 22:16:39 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I realize you meant buckwild. We canโt really know what Nabokov intended, but to me, it read like a deliberate attempt to gain sympathy and justify his actions. The way Humbert Humbert describes events unfolding just sounds a lot like the way Iโve heard abusive and predatory people try to justify their actions as โaccidentsโ or โreasonable things anyone could have done.โ It seems to me that Nabokov understands this type of person well enough not to believe those lies, and as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse himself, his sympathies lie with Delores, not with Humbert. Obviously, Humbert Humbert is a fictional character who doesnโt have an intent and we cannot know what Nabokov was going for, but to me, it reads like heโs lying.
DreCapitanoII ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 19:53:44 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I guess I'm being too restrictive. From what I recall it's obvious to the reader that he isn't really being seduced but I suppose that's not critical to a narrator being unreliable.
[deleted] ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 20:59:21 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)*
[deleted]
๐๏ธ alengthofrope ยท 5 points ยท Posted at 21:25:16 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Also, I'm not sure I would make this argument myself, but while reading the book I was skeptical about the convenience of Charlotte's death and not entirely convinced that Humbert had nothing to do with it, as Dolores later suspects as well. This would make him a much more concrete unreliable narrator. Of course it depends on your interpretation, but all to say that there is gray area in Humbert's framing of events.
ButterFinger007 ยท 115 points ยท Posted at 05:42:45 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I have a genuine desire to lie
snouseFX ยท 178 points ยท Posted at 03:49:43 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Hmm,, yes,, this is most intriguing to me,, I also heard something about a full stop,, but bc Iโm still learning,, you will have to bear with me,
C_Ya_Space_Cowboy ยท 64 points ยท Posted at 05:19:11 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
You with your bear:
TheRiverGatz ยท 49 points ยท Posted at 07:19:03 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
BRB I'm gonna write a book from the perspective of an alcoholic Midwesterner recalling the tragic and fantastical summer he spent with his cousin and mysterious neighbor
smathna ยท 31 points ยท Posted at 04:51:18 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I think I remember reading a book... Barbies' Virgin? No, Barney Verbal? Barney's Version? Anyway, I forgot.
EconomicsPotential ยท 59 points ยท Posted at 04:55:27 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Dude wtfff thats so smart... Brandon Sanderson
Efficient_Truth_9461 ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 15:00:08 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Brando sando technology
tortoistor ยท 51 points ยท Posted at 09:26:24 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
holy shit shes a genius. never seen before.
i wanna see her come up with more innovative takes such as "hey guys you know the enemies to lovers trope? imagine if they were like actual enemies.. like, trying to actually kill each other. has anyone ever done this omg itd be so exciting"
Ruddi_Herring ยท 15 points ยท Posted at 09:54:30 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Well I do this every single day in real life
DisturbedPoltergeist ยท 15 points ยท Posted at 15:20:51 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Tiktoker discovers different writing tools ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ
nathpallas ยท 25 points ยท Posted at 14:00:02 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
My characters never tell the truth โ not about the plot or themselves or anything.
My current masterpiece has the audience thinking it takes place in a small Chicago suburb and follows a single mother struggling to make ends meet while she fights against the odds to follow her dreams of becoming an exotic dancer.
But little do my idiot readers know that the REAL protagonist is a veteran orc warrior named Oog and this is all just his daydream before he goes into battle.
MrHonwe ยท 8 points ยท Posted at 12:51:22 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Maybe we can put a spin on that and give the narrator anterograde amnesia!
Sorry-Meal4107 ยท 6 points ยท Posted at 15:38:14 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
omg i made a video saying this is stupid and got 70 likes lol
NeonFraction ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 17:57:30 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
This has never been done before and anyone saying it has is also an unreliable narrator.
LactoseTV ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 12:29:21 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
This was literally the plot of Supermarket
The-Swarm-1667 ยท 3 points ยท Posted at 23:30:01 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Yeah, it's almost like it's the entirety of the fucking trope
smavinagain ยท 7 points ยท Posted at 05:47:09 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
this has been done before
tortoistor ยท 65 points ยท Posted at 09:22:22 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
no it hasnt this booktoker literally made it up. so smart
fucccboii ยท 29 points ยท Posted at 09:39:43 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
ok give me 150 examples
rainbowmabs ยท 32 points ยท Posted at 09:53:12 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Literally Clifford the Big Red Dog
Useful_Lynx6333 ยท 0 points ยท Posted at 11:18:14 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
That's literally one, granted it's like THE big red one and if you were referring to the 1st infantry division of the United States army then bravo, you gave him 10-15 thousand examples. Which I must commend on the clever and stunning wordplay. You sir/ma'am/they/them/xi/xer/xim/xer/sonicOc are a literally wordsmith of ages past, not unlike the epic vikingar skalds of old.
Efficient_Truth_9461 ยท 8 points ยท Posted at 15:02:55 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Hehe, making fun of pronouns funny ๐คค๐คค๐คค
allthecoffeesDP ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 12:22:52 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Unj/ remains of the day
caligulasArmageddons ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 22:17:33 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Eric Cartman
Erik1801 ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 04:07:01 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Reads Lolita rn
2jotsdontmakeawrite ยท 2 points ยท Posted at 04:26:18 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
How about 3 or 4 levels of lying narrators. House of Leaves? More like House of Lies.
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Proffessor_egghead ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 22:34:57 on March 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I think I read a book of which the entire thing was the main character slowly revealing a lie each chapter changing the story
Oh and werewolves that too
morigoni ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 17:16:47 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Just read Grande Sertรฃo: Veredas
Fweenci ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 17:25:50 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
That booktoker is showing us how it's done. ๐
ExecTankard ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 18:46:28 on February 11, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I read to much hairy-chested man fiction to get this concept.
Life-Delay-809 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 03:42:08 on February 12, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I saw that, it's insane. I've barely ever seen a narrator that knowingly lies to the audience, it's almost always the "potential we're overlooking".
adrik0622 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 01:39:44 on February 13, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I speculate this is basically whatโs happening with kvothe in the kingkiller chronicles
Wizardinrl ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 03:10:42 on February 13, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
That's kind of the whole premise behind that movie Big Fish isn't it?
ikebrofloski ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:08:24 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
The John Dies at the End series employs this type of unreliable narrator. Man hasn't even died yet.
baddkarmah ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 14:41:55 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
r/MrRobot vibes
Kickr_of_Elves ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 15:15:29 on February 14, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I don't think that ticktoker was being truthful
HankMiller23 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 13:24:16 on February 15, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Remains of the Day
HellsAngelas773 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 18:35:47 on February 15, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Do you mean: 'Interview With A Vampire'?
Sufficient_Doubt4283 ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 19:42:17 on February 15, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
I never understand how some people think of something and are like "Its so simple, how has no one else in the history of human existence EVER considered doing this?"
The answer is that it has been done before and you are not original.
ChairmanSunYatSen ยท 1 points ยท Posted at 16:30:47 on February 21, 2024 ยท (Permalink)
Lolita called, they want their entire premise back.