Legit Tip #197
or - “Breaking the Fourth Wall”While most people think of “breaking the fourth wall” as a quirk of modern storytelling, the practice is actually quite old. But what point does a fourth wall break serve? Though most commonly done for comic effect, a fourth wall break can also be used dramatically.
But let’s pause for a moment. What is breaking the fourth wall, exactly?
The term “breaking the fourth wall” comes from the theater. Imagine a stage. There are three walls - the back and the two sides. The fourth wall is the imaginary wall that exists at the front of the stage, between the audience and the actors onstage. That wall is broken when the actors onstage acknowledge that they are part of a production in some form or fashion, or even when those actors interact with the audience.
Though the term itself is rooted in theater, fourth wall breaks can be found in a variety of media, from comic books to literature. And breaking the fourth wall can add a particularly interesting dynamic to a story.
There are many ways to break the fourth wall. Here is a look at just a few, and how you can use fourth wall breaks in your writing.
Narrator Awareness
In this type of fourth wall break, you have a narrator who directly acknowledges the audience - i.e., the reader. It’s the most subtle form of fourth wall break, and because of that can be used in many types of stories.
When a narrator is aware of the fact that they are telling a story in the first person point of view, it creates an autobiographical effect. A really popular example of this is Jane Eyre, which is subtitled “An Autobiography.” In Jane Eyre, there are points where Jane speaks directly to the audience, using phrases such as “Dear Reader” or pointing out the existence of a new chapter.
If you’re writing in the third person, a narrator who is aware of the reader can become a character in their own right. Among the most popular examples of this is Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket is as much a character as any of the actual characters in the story, with his own persona and hints at a backstory.
Apart from just giving a story a certain “feel.” having a narrator who is aware of the story gives you the chance to point things out or make commentary on the story without really destroying the reader’s suspension of disbelief. For example, a narrator might say “Pay attention to what he says - it’ll be important later…”
Character Awareness
In this instance, a character is aware that they are actually a character in a story. It’s perhaps the second most common type of fourth wall break, and allows the character to comment on the story that’s being told. Often, these types of fourth wall breaks are used in parody or satires of certain genres, allowing the character to discuss that genre.
Imagine a character in a romance novel. This character knows they are in a romance novel. They meet an attractive stranger that they immediately hate, and are annoyed because they know that in 97 pages they’re going to fall in love with this person, because that’s the way that romance novels work.
Ex.
“It’s annoying.” Jane sighed, sipping her martini.
Patrick paused and turned back. “What’s annoying?” he asked snippishly, obviously still incensed from their argument.
“I may hate you, but in 97 pages I’m going to be head over heels. That’s how it works in these things, isn’t it? Right now I can’t even stand to look at you, but if the reader keeps on going…” She trailed off, taking another sip.
***Later in the Same Novel***
“Okay, so it was 92 pages. But the point still stands.”
Patrick laughed and shook his head. “I’m glad the reader didn’t stop. Or else you’d still hate me.”
With this kind of fourth wall break, sometimes only one character will be aware they’re in a story. Other times, it’s multiple characters, or all the characters in the story. Sometimes there is no fourth wall at all and the characters spend the entire story commenting on what’s going on, criticizing the writing, making predictions based on genre, or anything else you can imagine.
Author as Character
There are self inserts, and then there are self inserts. In this kind of fourth wall break, the author actually writes themselves into the story - often as a way of having their characters interact with them, criticize them, make requests, etc. Stephen King is one author who has famously done this, appearing as a character in his Dark Tower series.
When done in-universe, the author is actually a part of the world of the story. One common method of doing this is having an authorial persona that isn’t actually the author, but who claims to be the author. Other times, the author just appears in the story, whether once or multiple times.
There are many ways you can use this kind of fourth wall break. One is to have the author provide a solution to the character, as a twisted sort of deus ex machina. Other times, the author may relay to the characters information that they couldn’t otherwise know. And one of the most common reasons to do this is simply to allow the characters to comment on the story to the author - especially interesting or amusing if the author has been pretty hard on their reader.
Ex.
“You killed my mother. You sent my brother to prison. Do you enjoy making me suffer?” Tobias stared down at the floor, unwilling to look at the woman who had put him through so much pain.
“I don’t know if I enjoy it,” said Meg. “But tragedy is interesting, and I want to write an interesting story, you know.” She slid down onto the floor next to Tobias and glanced over at him. “I feel bad about the things I’ve done to you. I really do. But I don’t regret anything I’ve written. It had to happen, otherwise you’d just be some kid sitting at home, going to school every day, watching cat videos on the Internet. People already do all that stuff. They don’t want to read about it.”
Anyway, these are just a few examples of ways you can break the fourth wall, ordered from most subtle to most obvious. One thing you may be wondering at this point is when to actually use a fourth wall break.
Really, it depends on the tone you’re trying to set for your story. As I said, breaking the fourth wall can make a story feel more “real” if you’re using an approach that makes a story read like an autobiography.
On the other hand, it can be used to completely break a reader’s suspension of disbelief. That may sound scary, but it can also be really interesting. That’s especially true with comedic stories, satires, and parodies.
And finally, one of my favorites. A fourth wall break can be used to pull the reader into the story and make them a part of the world they’re reading about. That happens in The Neverending Story. In this movie/novel, a character is reading a story without realizing they are part of the story, until he’s pulled into the story he’s reading about. The movie version points out that there is an audience watching the boy who is reading the story, breaking multiple walls.
There are a lot of ways to use fourth wall breaks, so give it a try. Even if it’s only as a writing exercise to get to know your characters better, or to get to know the world you’ve created.
