4th Wall Breaks

[Venusaur26]

It is very easy to do it in 1st or 2nd person narratives, but how to break the 4th wall in 3rd person narrative?

 

[Paul_Tromba]

It's even easier to do in 3rd person because you could have dialogue that breaks the fourth wall before describing the character looking directly at the reader. Though this way of breaking the fourth wall is usually done in reader x MC fanfic novels.

 

[Kilolo]

"now this is for the obtuse reader among you. for those who don't understand that picking up mushroom could also perceived as a jargon of : going to the bathroom"

just imagine the narrator having a direct conversation with the reader.

 

[NotaNuffian]

"Now, if only the author would stop dragging the plot along by throwing random bullshit in our way."

Cue random bullshit in the form of a bunch of orc bandits jumping in front of the convoy. "Argggg! Drop ye booty or get the stabby!"

"See?"

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I'm gonna 4th wall break your legs

 

[BlackKnightX]

It is very easy to do it in 1st or 2nd person narratives, but how to break the 4th wall in 3rd person narrative?

You can do the 4th wall break with any POV. Think of it like normal storytelling. There’s a guy (the storyteller), sitting on a chair, facing the audience (the readers); he tells them a story. There’s gonna be some instances where he’s gonna use the word “you” to address the audience in order to connect with them and make them understand better. It’s just a natural process.

Now, the 4th wall break won’t work if you go for the invisible narrator—there’s no guy sitting in front of the audience; only the audience and the story. This way of storytelling feels artificial, but it could still give you a good and immersive experience if you don’t care about the style and such.

1st person POV is simply a guy telling their own story—e.g. That day, Joe and I couldn’t believe what happened. Everything felt like a dream since. Heck, I’m not even sure who I’m telling this to. For all I know, you could be just another dream…
(Hooked?)

3rd person close/limited POV is like a guy telling their close friend’s story—e.g. Sam and Joe were an unfortunate duo, that’s for sure. You couldn’t believe what happened to them a couple of months ago. It went beyond all common sense; mixed in with a sense of terror. It went something like this…
(That’s not too bad, is it?)

Omniscient POV is a guy telling you a legend or a made-up story—e.g. In the farm village of Xenovia, every villager had the same strange dream that night. It started off with pure darkness seeping with icy coldness that gave them chill. The dark, void dream gave everyone a sense of loss. And let me tell ya, all their hairs had experienced an erection that night. Quite literally so…
(This one is quite a stretch.)

All of these examples from different POVs have the 4th wall break. None of them are easier to do than the other. It‘s all the same, really.

Except, if you go for the invisible narrator—usually written in 3rd person limited (the POV is more like a camera than an actual person telling a story). In that case, first person POV will be easier to do the 4th wall break; first person POV tells a story constantly from the character’s voice, so it’s hard to make that invisible; even if you can, it’ll only make a story read like a dry report which is quite boring, in my opinion.

 

[Amok]

3rd is easy as pie, for the tale is already narrated from an omniscient view.

'Klerich banged the bong down on the table and yowled like a jackal at the midget pointing a shotgun in his face. No doubt the reader of this text(being of an inquisitive bent) knows that this was a bad move, for Vosilov, toughest(and shortest) bounty hunter in the six galaxies despised jackals with an ardently burning passion, for had they not chewed, consumed and digested her Legos as well as her parents so many years ago? Klerich of course did not know this, or chose to ignore it, and thus his brains became a wall decoration.'

'Malacark ripped into his foes, rending them apart, then ripped into the mountains, toppling them. Then he ripped through this page, grabbing the reader by their throat and pulling them into the world for a good talking to about how 6G towers turn the frogs straight.'

 

[Venusaur26]

It's even easier to do in 3rd person because you could have dialogue that breaks the fourth wall before describing the character looking directly at the reader. Though this way of breaking the fourth wall is usually done in reader x MC fanfic novels.

Oh yeah, Unreliable Narrator tag! XD

 

[Jemini]

It is very easy to do it in 1st or 2nd person narratives, but how to break the 4th wall in 3rd person narrative?

Lemony Snicket (writer of "A Series of Unfortunate Events") breaks the 4th wall in the 3rd person on the regular. He simply has the narrator address the audience directly. He does it all the time in the introductions and epilogues, and on occasion during the actual story as well.

 

[SerikoLee]

It is very easy to do it in 1st or 2nd person narratives, but how to break the 4th wall in 3rd person narrative?

Depends on the area in question, how many characters are present, and doing what like the MC like Ho Chi Minh leading rebels in a city.
So the author will have to ask what would the character do and support said view in 1st person or whatever they chose.
But everything depends on the author and what they planning to nail but each view has its challenges and issues when you haven't done it before.
Regardless of what happens, a smooth and understandable should get Parise.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Carefully!

I broke the 4th wall a bit in my draft, but I don't know if I'll keep that scene. Basically, my MC gets a vision of the universe I'm in and wants me to write the story.

 

[ElliePorter]

"You might be wondering why i? The great demon lord who is feared by many and loved by his subjects, is working as a Real Estate Agent... The truth is i am saving up my energy for when i next meet the Hero, i can truly defeat them!"

Office coworker: "Maou, Mr. Sunohara is waiting for the contract"

*finishes drink in one gulp*

"I'll talk to you later"

 

[Ai-chan]

It is very easy to do it in 1st or 2nd person narratives, but how to break the 4th wall in 3rd person narrative?

She took a shat, then another shat, and then another shat. As the toilet stank up from her shit, she started to ponder. She started to question the very fabric of life itself. That is, if the narrator describes her shitting in glorious detail, would the readers start imagining how her shit smell like? Would the readers be able to hear the "plop, plop, you and me, baby" sounds of her stool hitting the surface of the water in the toilet bowl?

 

[TheEldritchGod]

"Breaking the 4th wall is easy. Breaking the fifth one is hard."

"I don't understand."

"Ah. You know sometimes people talk about something being metaphysical?"

"Yeah."

"I'm a being of pure thought. You are genetic, whereas I am Memetic."

"Okay. I knew that already."

"So what you think of as Metaphysicial, is just physical to me."

"Okay..."

"What you are is what we call Mesophysical, or a step below us."

"Insulting, but I get it."

"So what do memetic being see as metaphysical? What is a step above US?"

"I... uh... Well..."

"We call that the Pataphysical. Beyond the metaphysical is a realm beyond. If the metaphysical is the study of the nature of reality, Pataphysics is the study of pure unreality, pure fiction, the metaphysical to us memetic beings that are composed of pure thought."

"So... if contacting you is breaking the fourth wall... then the fifth wall would be..."

"Talking to the author."