First-person ditzy/airhead voice

[positivetension]

Does anyone have experience with or tips for writing a confused/clueless narrator?

I didn't have any luck searching out examples in the story archive (not first-person, anyway). It seems tough as the narrator is unreliable, but would still have to convey enough information for the reader to be two steps ahead. And hopefully in a way that's funny instead of annoying to read.

 

[SamScribble]

Does anyone have experience with or tips for writing a confused/clueless narrator?

I didn't have any luck searching out examples in the story archive (not first-person, anyway). It seems tough as the narrator is unreliable, but would still have to convey enough information for the reader to be two steps ahead. And hopefully in a way that's funny instead of annoying to read.

The thing about an unreliable narrator is that they don’t act as though they are unreliable. They may have doubts, but they try to conceal their doubts from the rest of the world. ‘When I met Sarah, she was really pleased to see me. At least I think she was. I mean … why wouldn’t she have been pleased to see me?’ It’s a bit like a drunk. Drunks don’t try to act drunk. They try to convince everyone else that they are sober.

Good luck.

 

[NekoParks]

Does anyone have experience with or tips for writing a confused/clueless narrator?

I didn't have any luck searching out examples in the story archive (not first-person, anyway). It seems tough as the narrator is unreliable, but would still have to convey enough information for the reader to be two steps ahead. And hopefully in a way that's funny instead of annoying to read.

One of the most famous unreliable narrators in literature is Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. Also, Poe uses unreliable narrators in his short stories.

You might view the movie Clueless. The main character has some narration that is unreliable.

It's true what Sam said in that an unreliable narrator doesn't realize he or she is unreliable. Consequently, their point of view is biased and reveals a certain skewing of events that you realize is not possible.

In The Great Gatsby you realize that Gatsby is a gangster, and he can't be as wonderful as Nick portrays him. For example, Gatsby insistence that one can repeat the past reveals a certain immaturity in this character’s reasoning ability. Nick is shocked by Gatsby’s attitude but continues to be under Gatsby's spell.

Unreliable narrators are often very persuasive and compelling and draw the reader into the narrator's delusions. We begin to see the gangster Gatsby in Nick's romantic terms...whether it is a true portrait of Gatsby or not.

I don't know if this helps or not. Writing an unreliable narrator is difficult and takes careful plotting of events and character motivations. As a writer, you have to decide what you wish to accomplish by having the reader view your story's events through the narrator's distortions and prejudices.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I think one of the best ditzy supposedly unreliable narrators is Lorelei Lee in both Anita Loos' novel and the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She's engagingly dizzy but actually has her head screwed on. The dizziness is mainly conveyed through her using the pronoun 'I' inappropriately throughout.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Get John Steinbeck's CANNERY ROW and SWEET THURSDAY, both are larded up with halfwits.

 

[CWatson]

Another old classic: Pride and Prejudice is able to feature an unreliable narrator, even though it's in third-person limited. All we get are Elizabeth's thoughts and opinions, so for lack of any other information we are forced to take them as gospel truth.

SamScribble basically hit it right on the head: the narrator should not act unreliable. As far as your character knows, she is telling the truth. From there you simply use other characters' actions, other characters' dialogue, and the dramatic irony of her own obliviousness to undermine her own account of events. Having her miss obvious social cues like sarcasm might help.

 

[sr71plt]

Another old classic: Pride and Prejudice is able to feature an unreliable narrator, even though it's in third-person limited. All we get are Elizabeth's thoughts and opinions, so for lack of any other information we are forced to take them as gospel truth.

Glad to hear that, because I'm reading Pride and Prejudice now (because I apparently can't read P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley without reading P&P first) and I just thought I was having a strange personal reaction to Elizabeth.

 

[positivetension]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Basic rules I have:
Unaware of being unreliable, always believes what she says
Misinterprets scenarios that are obvious to the reader
Blind to sarcasm and innuendo (but aware of idioms as a native speaker)

I thought about using mispronunciation and mixing up words to show ditzyness, but in text I think it would be too confusing for the reader. That would probably work better in third-person dialogue, but not first-person narration.

I think the only thing left is to determine how she handles being confronted with contradictions and confusing scenarios. I think that's what would define the attitude of the character. Dismissive, over-confident, sheepish, etc....

 

[danger2no]

Here's a great link that explains unreliable narrator and gives examples.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnreliableNarrator

Another old classic: Pride and Prejudice is able to feature an unreliable narrator, even though it's in third-person limited. All we get are Elizabeth's thoughts and opinions, so for lack of any other information we are forced to take them as gospel truth.

SamScribble basically hit it right on the head: the narrator should not act unreliable. As far as your character knows, she is telling the truth. From there you simply use other characters' actions, other characters' dialogue, and the dramatic irony of her own obliviousness to undermine her own account of events. Having her miss obvious social cues like sarcasm might help.

Just studied Pride and Prejudice in my college literature class...there is no unreliable narrator in this book. My professor said that the narrator is ironic. This poster is wrong.

Glad to hear that, because I'm reading Pride and Prejudice now (because I apparently can't read P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley without reading P&P first) and I just thought I was having a strange personal reaction to Elizabeth.

You whined about this before. How long does it take you to read one book?

 

[sr71plt]

You whined about this before. How long does it take you to read one book?

Somehow writing books and editing other people's books sometimes gets in the way of reading books--especially when you're reading more than one at a time and some of them for newspaper reviews.

The short answer, is "fuck you, sweetheart."

And you just read P&P for a college class? You're about thirty years behind the curve in being half as brilliant as you think you are--and you might understand that when you grow up from snotty. (And I bet you speak in that ditzy airhead voice the thread is asking about.)

 

[danger2no]

Somehow writing books and editing other people's books sometimes gets in the way of reading books--especially when you're reading more than one at a time and some of them for newspaper reviews.

The short answer, is "fuck you, sweetheart."

And you just read P&P for a college class? You're about thirty years behind the curve in being half as brilliant as you think you are--and you might understand that when you grow up from snotty. (And I bet you speak in that ditzy airhead voice the thread is asking about.)

Started college as a sophomore. Taking 18 hours this semester and on the swim team, but I don't whimper about everything like you do grandpa. Why do you always act like your panties are in a wad?

 

[sr71plt]

Started college as a sophomore. Taking 18 hours this semester and on the swim team, but I don't whimper about everything like you do grandpa. Why do you always act like your panties are in a wad?

Wow, a college sophomore.

Yep, another ditzy airhead. You're on the right thread.

And when I go looking for any production from you here beyond snotty forum posts, wonder what I'll find. Probably all blow and no go.

 

[sr71plt]

The beginning of this thread was quite an interesting discussion until Miss I'macollegesopomoreandthereforeknoweverything showed up.

The perspective business has me mulling over the protagonist on the story I'm starting today (which won't be seen on Lit. for a year), and I think I'll try to go with vapid and self-possessed. The protagonist is a perfume model doing a shoot in Egypt in 1928, so it should fit in nicely. I agree with the discussion that it's hard to do, but I'll see what I can do to help the reader zero in on it quickly.

 

[danger2no]

Somehow writing books and editing other people's books sometimes gets in the way of reading books--especially when you're reading more than one at a time and some of them for newspaper reviews.

The short answer, is "fuck you, sweetheart." And you just read P&P for a college class? You're about thirty years behind the curve in being half as brilliant as you think you are--and you might understand that when you grow up from snotty. (And I bet you speak in that ditzy airhead voice the thread is asking about.)

Wow, a college sophomore.

Yep, another ditzy airhead. You're on the right thread. And when I go looking for any production from you here beyond snotty forum posts, wonder what I'll find. Probably all blow and no go.

The beginning of this thread was quite an interesting discussion until Miss I'macollegesopomoreandthereforeknoweverything showed up.

The perspective business has me mulling over the protagonist on the story I'm starting today (which won't be seen on Lit. for a year), and I think I'll try to go with vapid and self-possessed. The protagonist is a perfume model doing a shoot in Egypt in 1928, so it should fit in nicely. I agree with the discussion that it's hard to do, but I'll see what I can do to help the reader zero in on it quickly.

I included an informative link to unreliable narrators, so I am participating in the discussion. You are the one who is just now reading Pride and Prejudice after living for at least 70 to 80 years and whining about not understanding it.

I started college as a sophomore, which means I PLACED out of most FRESHMEN CLASSES. My IQ is 153 and I attended a private school that specialized in gifted students. I am majoring mathematics on the honors track and music.

You are the one that keeps returning to hurl me invectives at me. As my dad would say, you can dish it out but you can't take it.

 

[sr71plt]

I started college as a sophomore, which means I PLACED out of most FRESHMEN CLASSES. My IQ is 153 and I attended a private school that specialized in gifted students. I am majoring mathematics on the honors track and music.

Well, no wonder you're the most brilliant airhead on the forum.

 

[danger2no]

Well, no wonder you're the most brilliant airhead on the forum.

Too late for flattery, grandpa.

I bet you can't go 100 posts without writing negative, argumentative, or insulting comments. Noticed a lot of people hate you on this forum. I wonder why?

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Too late for flattery, grandpa.

I bet you can't go 100 posts without writing negative, argumentative, or insulting comments. Noticed a lot of people hate you on this forum. I wonder why?

why are you winding him up? just leave it. all the crap to-and-fro fucks up threads.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, I'd disagree whose bubblehead was wound so tight she was ready to explode.

Merely saying I was reading Pride and Prejudice shouldn't have set off her shit storm.

Oh, and, on the thread. I just finished drafting a story using a vapid and narcissistic first person narrator. It was fun to do.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Wow, Pilot, you must be grateful for danger popping up as Lovecraft hasn't been around to fight with you lately. Hope he's OK.

I was making pancakes in Naked earlier but I couldn't take piccies cuz my mobile battery ran out; I'll call you when I can post piccies, LOL.

Danger is right that Lizzie Bennett in P&P is not an airhead narrator. Lizzie Bennett is, however, quick to make a judgement on people, ie, ruled by prejudice rather than patient considered opinion. In fact, Lizzie is an intelligent narrator who is obliged to occasionally pose as an airhead in order to try to get married. I think they hit it right in the Indian Bollywood style version, Bride and Prejudice, when the cousin looking for a bride is coming and the mom says to Lalita (the Lizzie character): "And you, don't say anything intelligent!"

I think you can do airheads with misplaced grammatical speech, as Anita Loos does with Lorelei Lee. I look forward to reading yours, Pilot, when it goes live. (And I've worked through this stack of stuff to edit .)

 

[sr71plt]

Wow, Pilot, you must be grateful for danger popping up as Lovecraft hasn't been around to fight with you lately. Hope he's OK.

Yes, I noticed. Gone the same time Scouries is. Hmm. Maybe off strategizing together? They always did play some of the same themes.

I don't get the impression that Elizabeth gives two figs about getting married (at least until she sees Pemberley). But I'm finding both her and most of the rest of the P&P crew vacuous. (But, then, I find Danger2No vacuous too. )

I had a ball on this airhead narrator thing on the story I wrote yesterday--has gone to 10,000 words. He's totally narcissistic and sees everything in that light and doesn't quite get that, although I hope the reader will get it from the get go. But then he's a male perfume model in the late 1920s, so his character should be apparent to the reader from the start when he's posing on a marble bench in front of the Giza pyramids and holding a bottle of Him perfume. I even have it laid out for him in the conclusion and he doesn't get it. It was great fun writing. It goes in a marketplace anthology, so won't be posted on Lit. for about a year.

And my thanks to the early thread discussion. I wouldn't have thought of using this type of narrator if I hadn't seen this thread--and I think it turned out as the natural vehicle to use for this.

 

[PennLady]

I don't get the impression that Elizabeth gives two figs about getting married (at least until she sees Pemberley). But I'm finding both her and most of the rest of the P&P crew vacuous. (But, then, I find Danger2No vacuous too. )

I've read P&P a few times, and seen a couple of adaptations and I think with marriage, Elizabeth is not against it, but she does resent feeling like she must get married, and do it with more of an eye towards her family's future comfort than her own. I got the feeling that Lizzie would be willing to accept respect and consideration if she couldn't get true love, but her mother doesn't even care about that much. And while her father does care about Lizzie's future happiness, he keeps himself aloof from the situation.

I would think Mrs. Bennett would agree with Count Adhemar in A Knight's Tale: "Marry for money, my lady, and love will follow." Lizzie would not agree.

I never found Lizzie vacuous or airheaded. Perhaps that's a gender or generational thing, I don't know. Yes, Lydia and Kitty and Mary, and especially Mrs. Bennett, are supposed to be on the airhead side, but Lizzie and Jane are not. I think Lizzie feels the limitations of being female in her time/world more than the other characters.

 

[sr71plt]

I never found Lizzie vacuous or airheaded. Perhaps that's a gender or generational thing, I don't know. Yes, Lydia and Kitty and Mary, and especially Mrs. Bennett, are supposed to be on the airhead side, but Lizzie and Jane are not. I think Lizzie feels the limitations of being female in her time/world more than the other characters.

She seems as quick as any to accept one side of a story without researching it.

 

[PennLady]

She seems as quick as any to accept one side of a story without researching it.

I didn't say she was wise and considering. And that's part of the pride and prejudice in the title, at least to me. Lizzie does come around.

 

[steve44uk]

(Hopefully re-)read To Kill a Mockingbird for a mssterclass in viewing often quite harrowing events through the dark glass of innocence / ignorance.

Also, Peter Straub's fiction makes much effective use of unreliable narrators.

 

[sr71plt]

The point that I see in To Kill a Mockingbird is that Scout had the clearest vision in the town.