U is for...Unreliable Narrator
Mostly, when we read a story, we take the narrative at face value. We believe what the author is telling us, either directly in a first person narrative or through the hero or heroine in a third person one, because -- well, why wouldn't we?
Precisely. As readers, we are trusting and - necessarily - gullible. We want to believe. If something happens inadvertently to break the magic spell, we feel cheated and / or irritated and may well chuck the book to one side.
But what if the writer deliberately pulls the rug from under her reader's feet, by revealing that the narration or the narrator is in some way unreliable? What then? However you achieve it, gradually with a drip, drip, drip of hints and suggestions, or with a flourish of leger de main, it's an extraordinarily manipulative thing to do. It is bound to provoke an intense reaction in your reader and (as long as they don't cast the book to one side) this is a Very Good Thing. Firstly, it will make them re-evaluate everything they have read so far, to see how they could have misread the situation so completely; it will niggle away at them and keep them in the world of your story for longer. Secondly, they will want to know why: why has the writer subverted her own story? What is she trying to achieve? Where will it lead?
If you want to see how to do it (without giving too much away), read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, or check out one of my previous posts...
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