A story–a novel, in particular–is an imperfect thing. So, in the end, is a narrative strategy, no matter how airtight it appears, how neatly form and content complicate and complement each other. Too strict an adherence to a set of rules–even rules one sets for oneself–is dangerous in any art form, almost as dangerous as rejecting internal consistency altogether. Toward a Narrative Strategy, in The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, by Christopher Castellani
The best a writer can do is assess the effect each narrative decision has on a story, then decide if that's the effect she wants. A coherent and effective narrative strategy is the end result of a multitude of major and minor assessments and reassessments. Toward a Narrative Strategy, in The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, by Christopher Castellani
A narrative strategy, however effective it may be in one work of fiction, is not transferable to another. If only it were that easy. If only each novel or story didn't come with its own set of requirements, its own moods and vision. If only it could stretch to fit what worked so beautifully the last time. Toward a Narrative Strategy, in The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, by Christopher Castellani
The narrative strategy doesn't determine every choice an author makes in a work, but every choice an author makes must answer to the narrative strategy. Its greatest virtues are consistency and internal resonance; its archenemy is the arbitrary. Toward a Narrative Strategy, in The Art of Perspective, Christopher Castellani
Author and narrator collaborate in the telling of a story, but it is impossible to quantify how much the two share. In their act of collaboration, they are in a continual state of merging and diverging, identification and resistance. As hard as an author tries, she can never fully become her narrator, nor can she ever fully separate herself from her. In this way, the act of writing a story or personal essay is a process of occupying two states of being simultaneously, of seeing a world both the way your narrator sees it and, try as you might to resist it, the way you see it. Introduction: To Seeing Each Other Again, in The Art of Perspective, Christopher Castellani
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