#PennedPossibilities 1183: Do any of your characters ever break the fourth wall?
I write in 1st person.
Almost by definition, the narrator, the protagonist, tells their story. My characters? They tell their stories the way they damn well want to tell them. I quickly make it obvious that protags are aware that they are telling their story, maybe a virtual diary, or as the novel the reader is reading, or as a tale told another. Doing so adds a mysterious subtext. Why are they confessing (or lying about) their sins? What are they trying to prove?
I never break the fourth wall to a distracting degree—or haven't, yet— but sometimes the narrator will warn the reader or self-deprecate; maybe they'll give an excuse for an evil act, ask forgiveness, or relate retrospective regret. It's rare that a narrator converses directly with the reader. It's happened, though. I once wrote a prologue, presented as a "forward" in something more scholarly, that conversed with the author, that is, with the protag.
Breaking the fourth wall does have the effect of giving away that the POV won't die—at least in the current chapter! In my reading career, only once has an author killed the 1st person POV. Shocking!
Justified.
Foreshadowed.
Inevitable, really. Another took over to finish the novel, and no, I won't reveal the book or author, because that's spoilers! Since as an author, I try to leave the protagonist squirming in some degree of jeopardy, having broken the fourth wall, having made the POV present and alive walking beside the reader, journeying together if you will, the technique can morph into a spectacularly fun game of chicken that raises the stakes for the reader and ramps up the tension of the story.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
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