Writing Which unreliable narrator is funnier?

[Eldoria]

Unreliable Narrator​

An unreliable narrator is a narrator who conveys inaccurate, distorted, biased, subjective, or misleading information to the reader. As characters, they often have personalities that bias their perception of reality based on what they subjectively believe to be true.

Unreliable narrator provides a layered narrative; often what the readers understand is more complex than what the narrator knows. It ultimately creates an effect of irony, drama, and misunderstanding that is often entertaining, humorous, and maintains suspense.

Here are several types of unreliable narrators based on their prominent personality traits, along with examples:

Spoiler: (1) Naive MC

Lin Jie (I’m Really Not The Demon God’s Lackey) is a too naive narrator; he believes himself to be just an ordinary bookseller providing sales (motivational) services to customers (who are actually not normal and inhumane). He is an evil god who believes himself to be just a normal person in the dark fantasy world.

Spoiler: (2) Innocent MC

Xi (The Gods Must be Crazy) is an innocent narrator; as a member of a remote African tribe untouched by the modern world, he views modern civilization as both magical and absurd through simple, childish logic. He is an innocent man lost in the modern world.

Spoiler: (3) Narcissistic MC

"Who is this beautiful witch girl whose gray hair sparkles in the wind? Well, it's me." - Elaina (Majo no Tabi Tabi)

Spoiler: (4) Lying MC

Elrise (Fake Saint of the Year) is a lying narrator who acts as a more authentic saint than the real one. Her (genuine) lies even deceive the world and can make you cry.

Spoiler: (5) Crazy MC

Selene (Yotogi no Kuni no Gekkouhime) acts like an innocent, pitiful, and fragile little princess on the outside. But in reality, she's a crazy narrator, willing to burn down the kingdom and want to kill the (kind) crown prince in order to (delusively) save her (actually safe) older sister. She's actually an old man (with absurd hobbies) trapped in a little girl's body.

Spoiler: (6) Chuuni MC

Cid Kagenou (The Eminence in Shadow) is a chuuni narrator who even makes the world adore him.

 

[xizl]

Personally I like MC's that are oblivious to their actions and you only get an idea of what's going on and how others feel from their actions. Like the mc presumes they feel one way and the author shows they feel another. That information asymmetry is really entertaining for me

 

[Makimaam]

I would say delusional but maybe crazy is close.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It depends on the writer (and voice actor) more than anything else as to which is funnier. They can all be very funny - or just flat-out frustrating.

I have a story I keep stalling on with a very unreliable narrator - he knows more about what's going on than anyone else (except, usually, the author), but plays his cards close to his vest and has no problem misleading anyone else, or just pulling details out of the air right when they're needed and no sooner. He's kind of fun, but also exhausting to write, and can bec very funny at times, but at other times he's just infuriating.

Another story, lost to a hard drive crash, has mostly unreliable narrators (different characters get different chapters, at least as long as they remain alive and maybe longer) - have one naive narrator in the mix who's one of the few who is occasionally funny, a few narcissists who are anything but, and an Elder god who is not very funny at all; kind of anti-funny.

 

[Kurayami]

I would say delusional but maybe crazy is close.

Kurayami loved that.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Crazy people who think they're normal and reasonable. For example, I hate the character Negan from the walking dead, but I use some of his personality as mild inspiration. Of course, ignoring all the fucking annoying over the top theatrics. His character irritates the fuck outta me. lmao

Spoiler: Example

From Ch.49 of my story. Linday is very normal, can't you tell?

9:37pm


It’s really upsetting when people don’t follow or respect my rules.

Lately, I’ve been noticing that whenever I go out for a stroll for a while, I come back to find that a handful of my friends are on the ground with their skulls blown apart.

I don’t like that very much.

I can smell the gunpowder. I can see the shell casings on the pavement.

My friends are important. They listen to me, they care about me. I feed them well and take care of them. Sometimes I even patch up the wounds they get from the blood rain.

But I guess when you tell people not to do something, it makes them want to do it even more.

I warned them. I’ve been reasonable. I don’t ask much from anyone.

While growing up, I learned about how to ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’. I’m starting to wonder if I should just abandon those lessons like everyone else seems to do.

I just think everyone would be a lot happier if they learned to respect boundaries.

 

[McPhoenixDavid]

Spoiler: (6) Chuuni MC

Cid Kagenou (The Eminence in Shadow) is a chuuni narrator who even makes the world adore him.

I love writing chunni MCs, they are very fun to write. Maybe because I love Shadow, Megumin and Chunibyo And Other Delusions.