In Short: Narrator, Author and Character
- The author is the real person who wrote the work. You can usually find their name on the cover or title page.
- The narrator is the voice that tells the story. The narrator exists within the text and is created by the author.
- A character is a person, animal, or other figure who acts in the story and experiences events.
- The narrator can also be a character: when the narrator says “I” and tells their own story, this is first-person narration.
- The “I” in a fictional story is not automatically the author. Memoirs and autobiographies are different because the writer is presenting their own real-life experience.
What Is the Difference Between the Narrator and the Author?
The author creates the work; the narrator tells the story inside it. The author exists in the real world, writes other texts, and has a life outside the book. The narrator belongs to the story. An author can invent a narrator with a completely different age, background, opinions, and knowledge.
The distinction becomes obvious when the narrator is unlike the author. An adult woman can write a story narrated by a ten-year-old boy; a writer can even choose a dog as the narrator. The narrator’s voice and perspective are part of the work, not proof of the author’s personal identity.
Who Is the Character, and How Is a Character Different From the Narrator?
A character is someone the story is about. There may be a main character and several supporting characters. The narrator tells us about them but is not always one of them.
- When the narrator says “I” and takes part in the events, the narrator is also a character.
- When a narrator tells the story using “he”, “she”, or “they” and does not take part in the events, the narration is third person.
Familiar examples for Grade 4–6 / Year 5–7: in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney, Greg Heffley tells his own story and is also the main character. In “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson narrates his own adventures in the first person. In “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White, a third-person narrator tells us about Wilbur, Charlotte, and the other characters from outside the events.
Three Questions That Settle It
Question | Who Are You Looking For? | Where Do You Find the Answer? |
|---|---|---|
Who wrote this work? | the author | on the cover, title page, or source information |
Who tells this story? | the narrator | in the text: does the narrator say “I” or describe other characters? |
Who experiences the events? | the character | in the text: who acts, speaks, and takes part in what happens? |
Ask the questions in that order. The first answer comes from information outside the story itself; the other two come from the text.
How Do You Recognise First-Person and Third-Person Narration?
Look at the pronouns and verb forms in the narrative sentences, not only in dialogue. If the narrator says “I walked”, “I see”, or “I noticed”, the narration is first person. If the narrator says “he walked”, “she sees”, or “they noticed”, it is third person.
Feature | First-Person Narration | Third-Person Narration |
|---|---|---|
pronouns and verb forms | I lost, I run | he lost, she runs |
who the narrator is | a character or witness to events | a voice outside the events |
what the narrator knows | usually what they personally see, hear, think, and feel | may know more than one character, sometimes including their thoughts |
Watch out for dialogue. A character can say “I” in a conversation even when the whole story is narrated in the third person.
Exercise: Who Is Who?
Read each short passage. For each one, answer three questions: what type of narration is it, is the narrator a character, and who are the characters?
- “My name is Jake, and yesterday I got a dog. I named him Patch.”
- “Emma looked at the clock. She was certain the bus had already left.”
- “We stood with Ben outside the school. Suddenly, Ben pointed out a rainbow.”
- “Sophie whispered to her brother, ‘I’ll do it.’”
- The cover shows the writer’s name. The book begins: “I’m a dog, and my name is Patch.” Who is the author, and who is the narrator?
Answers:
- First-person narration (“my name”, “I got”, “I named”). The narrator is a character: Jake. Characters: Jake and Patch.
- Third-person narration (“Emma looked”, “she was”). The narrator is not a character but knows what Emma thinks. Main character: Emma.
- First-person narration (“we stood”, “with Ben”). The narrator is a character alongside Ben.
- Third-person narration (“Sophie whispered”). The “I” appears inside dialogue, so it is spoken by a character rather than the narrator. Characters: Sophie and her brother.
- The author is the real writer named on the cover. The narrator is Patch the dog, who is also a character. The narration is first person.
Can the Narrator Be the Author?
In ordinary fiction, keep the author and narrator separate even when the narrator says “I”. In memoir or autobiography, the writer presents their own real-life experiences, so author and narrator refer to the same real person, although the text is still shaped and selected by the writer.
Be careful with fictional diary formats. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” looks like Greg Heffley’s diary, but Jeff Kinney wrote the book. Greg is the narrator and character, not the author.
In poetry, we usually talk about the speaker: the voice speaking in the poem. The speaker should not automatically be treated as identical to the poet either.
How Can You Practise This at Home in 10 Minutes?
- Three Questions After Each Chapter: who wrote it, who tells it, and who experiences the events?
- Change the Narrator: rewrite three sentences from “I” to “he”, “she”, or “they” and notice what changes.
- Tell It From Another Perspective: retell an ordinary morning as if it were narrated by the cat or a school bag.
- Hunt for “I”: underline first-person pronouns and check whether they appear in dialogue or in the narration itself.
Talking about who tells a story connects naturally with other comprehension questions. See how to teach reading comprehension. A short conversation after a chapter can also help with recall; see how to improve a child’s memory after reading.
When your child writes their own story, have them choose the narrator before the first sentence and keep the point of view consistent. See how to teach a child to write essays independently for planning support.
What Mistakes Should You Avoid?
- Writing “the author tells us…” when analysing the story’s narration. Usually write “the narrator tells us…” or “the text shows…”.
- Assuming “I” means the author. A first-person narrator in fiction is a narrative voice, not automatically the writer.
- Confusing a third-person narrator with the main character. The narrator tells us about the character but is not that character.
- Looking for the narrator only in dialogue. What characters say does not determine the narrative point of view.
- Switching point of view halfway through your own story, from “I” to “he” or “she”, without a clear reason.
If your child avoids reading altogether, start with what to do when a child does not want to read.
Sources
- Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna — Podstawa programowa: język polski, szkoła podstawowa IV–VIII (requirements for grades 4–6: the pupil characterises the lyrical subject, the narrator and the characters, and distinguishes between first-person and third-person narration; version for the 2025/2026 school year).
- Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna — Narracja, opis, dialog w opowiadaniu (definition of the narrator and of first- and third-person narration).
- Słownik języka polskiego PWN — hasło „narrator” (the narrator as the figure who tells the course of the action in a literary work).
- Słownik języka polskiego PWN — hasło „autor” (the author as the creator of a literary work).