Being unreliable means not having integrity in your storytelling. It’s kinda funny, really, because you can’t trust the protagonist—even though the protagonist is telling the story!
Rules for Writing an Unreliable Protagonist by Ava Murbarger
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Five Steps to being the Unreliable Protagonist
You’re most likely a liar. You can’t be trusted to speak the truth, and you deceive on a regular basis- whether for good reasons or not. You make your reader on guard, uneasy, with how dishonesty radiates from you.
You have unclear motivations. Your goals waver and make you unpredictable enough for readers to worry.
You act dumber than you really are. To others, you’re of average intelligence at best, but on the inside your brain is a hundred times quicker than you let on.
You use other characters like they aren’t real people. And you manage not to feel too badly about it, either.
You do things no one would expect- because really, you don’t expect your next move, either. You do what works in the moment, carefully working around expectations and keeping the rest of the characters close to you while simultaneously pushing them away in your mind. BONUS- As a plot twist, you are the bad guy! You are the one keeping yourself from your ever-changing goals.
Well, that’s how you be an unreliable protagonist. Do anything else, and you’re pretty much on track!
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I have found unreliable protagonists to be the bad guy. *nods sagely* Especially in man-vs-self scenarios.
What unreliable narrators have you encountered? Comment below!
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