Inner Monologue, Third Person Omniscient
All these memories of children's books have reminded me of how ingrained narrative was in my consciousness when I was a child. Present in my mind at all times was a narrator, observing me and telling my story at the exact same time I was acting it out, viz: I'd be walking around in the woods, stopping periodically to inspect various plants. As I did so, I'd be thinking: "She walked through the forest, stopping here and there to kneel down and contemplate plants. She saw a mayapple and wondered if fairies used them as umbrellas. She picked wildflowers and plucked the petals, saying, 'He loves me. He loves me not.' She saw a strange plant with purple leaves and suspected it must be an ingredient in a magic potion." On and on and on. Back then, I used to think I was the only one who thought in this manner. Now I wouldn't be surprised if other bibliophiles thought in that same constant narrative, maybe Krista, Cristina, Amanda, or The Little Professor. Anyone else?
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Yep!
I absolutely did that, though I tended to do so more in the Mike Doonesbury, sports caster-type way.
Journey to Ithaca
Oh yeah
Geeky Mom
I so totally did that. In fact, I even wrote a poem about how I did that, called (uncreatively) "Narrative." Sometimes I did this out loud with friends, which I think made them think I was weird. I also confessed in a feminist literary seminar a few years ago that when I was a kid, I could not read books narrated by boys/men and instead read books with animals as the main characters and often, narrators. My professor felt really sorry for me. We were reading Huck Finn when I made the confession. :)
Yikes...
...you're absolutely right about my having the novelistic inner monologue. I thought that way all the time when I was a kid, third person and all. (I still do, from time to time. Old habits die hard.)
Amazing, she posted!
I did that. All the time. And, um, I still do, sometimes. (Now I claim it's "thinking about blogging".)
wolfangel
Psychology
Wow, how cool that this post has gotten so much response! I wonder if any psychologists have done studies on this? What if some people narrate, but they are not the protagonists in their own stories? Not that I cast myself as some superstar or anything, but my narrative did tend to represent me in a positive light, in this benevolent, love-letter kind of way, like the narrator was an ally. I suppose that's good for self-esteem, building a positive relationship with self, etc.
Unreliability
I've always loved the literary trope of the unreliable narrator. And I've always thought it would be the coolest thing in the world to write a book with an unreliable omniscient narrator. But, in extending that idea from yours, Clancy, well, to have an internalized unreliable omniscient narrator reporting on what one does -- uh-oh, that might be asking for trouble.
Mike
I can't imagine how you would
I can't imagine how you wouldn't be your own protagonist. I'm not sure my narrator was always allied, and it was an unreliable one, I think. I'm having trouble figuring out what I said. It was certainly third person, and narrated my actions and thoughts. I forget how dialogue worked.
And I love my icon, by the way. Thank you.
wolfangel
actually...
...that would be a "no," or "not that I can remember." Of course, one can't limit "narrative" to "third person narrative"---but if I ever had a "narrative" it would always be first person, and often in the conditional mood or future tense (often called daydreaming). I am however fascinated by narratives and what makes them so compelling and I think often about this. When I want to put together a story now, as an adult woman, it's just incredibly hard; yet there are plenty of authors who seem to have an uncanny ability to unravel hundreds of pages of narrative and keep you hungry for more. To me, completing a compelling narrative is nothing short of a miracle. I can barely keep up with blogging....
www.tc.umn.edu/hanga001
Some Thoughts
2 Board Alley
A long time ago, Doonesbury did a strip on the narrator and I remember Mike D. saying something about the narrator fading away with adulthood.
My narrator was third person, and I tended pretend to be a character in a book interacting with the family--kind of like Snoopy as the World War One Flying Ace. I'd be walking around the house being Heidi and pretending that our cat was a mountain goat and my brother Peter, while "narrating" to myself: "She walked into the room where the strangers[Mom and Dad's cocktail party] from the town[the embassy] had come to visit. Obeying Grandfather [our maid, Claire], Heidi offered fresh slices of cheese [on a fancy tray, surrounded by shrimp and other goodies] to the guests who were famished [drunk]and grateful[drunk] for the feast[liquor].