Would Your Story Benefit From a Distant Narrator?

One of the reasons readers love books is because books allow us to not just observe characters, but to get inside their heads and see how they tick. This is the reason for the modern popularity of what’s known as the “deep,” “tight,” or “close” POV, in which the narrative itself, whether it’s told in the first- or third-person, is relayed through the thoughts and in the voice of the narrating character. Many readers, myself among them, prefer tight POVs. However, the more distant POV still has its place and purpose. In fact, some stories will be all the better for being told by a distant narrator.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (affiliate link)

One of those stories is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved classic The Great Gatsby. Now, The Great Gatsby is actually told in the first-person, a perspective inherently associated with deep POVs, since there is no question whatsoever of our being in the narrating character’s head. Most of the time, when you think of distant POVs, you’re going to be thinking of third-person POVs that observe characters without delving into their thoughts or omniscient POVs in which the author allows readers to peek into all the characters’ minds. However, Gatsby shows us how to get the best of both worlds.

In narrator Nick Carraway, we gain an intimate glimpse into a character. However, because the story isn’t really about Nick, he is able to offer a distant and objective narration of the sordid events of the story. Had Fitzgerald chosen to tell this story from the first-person POV of a more involved character, the tone would have been completely different. Instead of being able to observe the characters’ downward spiral, readers would instead have been dragged through it—and the book probably would not have become the beloved classic it is today.

Although this kind of distant narrator isn’t always, or even often, the best choice for a story, it’s definitely something worth keeping in your bag of tricks.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Have you ever used a distant narrator? Tell me in the comments!