Fourth wall break - character talks to author, not audience

Question

I was wondering how I might go about writing a character in a story that breaks the fourth wall and talks to the writer?

There are many examples where the character talks to the audience to give his/her commentary on the situation, but not sure if a character (in writing, no images or video) has paused their own story to engage with the author?

My plan is to have the story flow one way and then have the character speak to me and interrupt the story. I then engage back, and eventually return to a slightly different conclusion of the story that I had intended to write

Answer 1

In 2nd and 3rd person POV, the narrator is the storyteller. In first person, the narrator is the character. So unless you intended to differentiate between the narrator and the writer in the story, then I think you'll need to avoid 1st person POV.

Also, if your main character directly addresses the narrator, and vice versa, rather than addressing the reader, then you'll need to grapple with the tense of your story and consider when is the narrator telling the story relative to the story -- this is called point of telling.

For instance, if the entire story was told entirely in past tense, that would mean when the narrator related the story, that they knew that the character would become aware that they were in a fictional story of someone else's creation. For me, the question that arises is why would the narrator continue to relate the story. It has the feeling of being very contrived and not spontaneous. A kind of look-how-clever-I-am thing on the behalf of the writer.

If I really apply myself, I can imagine there exists a sort of meta-fiction take in the vain of the discussions between Achilles and The Tortoise and the Hare in Gödel, Escher, and Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. A kind of discussion that is fully aware that is is a discussion that is being read by someone else.

And, this setting has been used in episodes of The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits as well as at least one movie -- Stranger Than Fiction. But, these media are generally perceived as told in the present tense and not past tense. I think that is an important element this setting needs for it to be effective.

For instance, if the story starts in the past tense and transitions into the present tense when the character realizes they are a fictional manifestation, and begins interacting with the narrator, then I think that kind of story would feel more spontaneous since, conceptually, the narrator would be surprised by the actions, reactions, and possible protestations of the character. I'm am at a loss to imagine what the point of such a story would be -- like what plot or character arc would need this artifice to make the story tangible. But, that doesn't really matter. If you can make it work, that'll be terrific.

Answer 2

Some examples to properly look at are The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, where the narrator and the characters interact with each other. There are even numerous moments where Pooh and the narrator talk to each other, Owl's long off tangent stories being described by the narrator as going on for "multiple pages", the narrator twice saving characters by interacting with the book (once turning the page so Pooh won't fly out of the book and another time turning the book sideways so Tigger could get out of a tree) and Gopher frequently reminding Pooh that "I'm not in the book" calling out that the source material that was adapted into the film did not have the character at all. While the "Book turns into the film" motif happens in many Disney Films (most famously in Snow White, but Pinochiccio, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Jungle Book, and Sword in the Stone) only Pooh makes constant references to the fact that the book motif exists and makes the fictional world interact with the written words and pages.

Hercules would also do a similar motif, where the story is started with Narration by Charles Heston, before the Muses take over, because they are the Goddesses of this sort of stuff and take on a role of Greek Chorus over traditional narration because Heston was making the narration so boring. This gives them a role of both interacting with and without Hercules' world, such as in the "I won't say I'm in love sequence" where they sing as Meg's back up and the song is basically the Muses trying to convince Meg she is in fact in love and it's okay.

Another good film is "Muppet's Christmas Carol" where Gonzo plays Charles Dickens himself. Here, much of his dialog is pulled straight from the narration of the book, but this being a Muppets film, of course he breaks the 4th wall with both the audience, and the other Muppets, explaining writing concepts like Authors being omniscient to explain how he could narrate scenes where Scrooge is alone. One of the best gags comes when Sam the Eagle (Scrooge's old Headmaster) tells the Young Scrooge that Businesses is "The American Way" which prompts Gonzo/Dickens to remind him the setting of the film is 19th Century Britain. Sam amends the line but then looks puzzled about what the hell just happened. In several scenes, Gonzo also trespasses on into people's homes without them ever noticing or mentioning his presence but still interacts with the scene.