Norstrillia, by Cordwainer Smith. Norstrillian farm boy, seen as a cripple on his home world, uses his ancestor's contraband computer to gamble on the futures market, becomes the richest person ever or since, buys the Earth, goes there, meets C'mell, has adventures with her, gives almost all of his wealth away because he loves her, goes home without her, marries, has kids, and lives happily ever after for the next 1000 years or so. As Smith himself said at the beginning of the book: Now you know the story. Except the details.
I have two favorite types of narration. To the point sarcastic and poetic flowery narration depending on the book. If I had to choose only one though I would take the poetic flowery any day! And I like for it to be told in an old classic type of style if that makes sense. I'm really not sure how to describe it but sort of like Jane Eyre style.
I’m the same way, really. The book I’m reading right now (which I haven’t finished but is still my favorite book ever) has a narrator who can be sarcastic. I couldn’t write that way, but I enjoy reading it along with poetic narration. I find the way I write to be, well, “flowery” is the only word I can think of. I’ve created quite a few lines I’m proud of.
According to a quick google search, here’s a couple of things a narrative can be: 1) a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. 2) the narrated part or parts of a literary work, as distinct from dialogue. So yes, I think so.
One of my favorite narrative voices is Neal Stephenson's third person, which often uses a vernacular that borders on first person in its subjective description while never becoming the voice of any individual. This allows for comic relief via the occasional absurd statement. I like to write more like William Gibson, third person that gives away very little explanation of even the exposition, despite a certain omniscience in sharing character's internal states if not direct thoughts.
In Norstrilla, the voice is sort of a respected elder telling you a true story that happened a few decades ago. So it begins like this: THEME AND PROLOGUE Story, place, and time--these are the essentials. 1 The story is simple. There was a boy who bought the planet Earth. We know that, to our cost. It only happened once, and we have taken pains that it will never happen again. He came to Earth, got what he wanted, and got away alive, in a series of very remarkable adventures. That's the story. 2 The place? That's Old North Australia. What other place could it be? Where else do farmers pay ten million credits for a handkerchief, five for a bottle of beer? Where else do people lead peaceful lives, untouched by militarism, on a world which is booby-trapped with death and things worse than death? Old North Australia has stroon—the santaclara drug—and more than a thousand other planets clamor for it. But you can get stroon only from Norstrilia—that's what they call it, for short—because it is a virus that grows on enormous, gigantic misshapen sheep. The sheep were taken from Earth to start a pastoral system; they ended up as the greatest of imaginable treasures. The simple farmers became simple billionaires, but they kept their farming ways. They started tough and they got tougher. People get pretty mean if you rob them and hurt them for almost three thousand years. They get obstinate. They avoid strangers, except for sending out spies and a very occasional tourist. They don't mess with other people, and they're death, death, death inside out and turned over twice if you mess with them. Then one of their kids showed up on Earth and bought it. The whole place, lock, stock, and underpeople. That was a real embarrassment for Earth. And for Norstrilia, too. From http://cordwainer-smith.com/norstrilia.htm -- the website run by the author's daughter.
I'm a bit like Richard Adams, I think. I like stories that sound as if they're being told. I'm not into the "narrator has to be invisible" concept. I always loved Tolkien's parenthetical remarks. I like when the author writes to the reader, and when the story sounds as old as time (perfect past).
So you are asking about 'the narrator,' rather than the parts of the story that aren't dialogue? I was also puzzled by what a 'favourite' narrative might be. If you're referring to the 'narrator,' I can understand the question. What kind of voice do I like telling the story? I suppose I prefer a reflective tone, rather than an overly chippy and self-consciously clever tone. However, if you're referring to the parts of a story that aren't dialogue (which is the classic definition of 'narrative' when it comes to writing) then I don't have a 'favourite.' As long as I can follow the narrative, and it enhances the story, I don't care. I am not a fan of tons of dialogue used to convey every aspect of a story—dialogue moves the story too quickly to have much of an impact, in my opinon—so I do enjoy reading narrative. That's usually where my imagination has time to build a picture of what's going on.
What's funny is how different people think. I had a friend of mine read a chapter of my story and he instructed me to delete any paragraph that sounded flowery. He told me to use those lines to write a separate poem, and that those type of things throw him out of the story because he just wants to get to the action. For arguments sake I was like sure. But my poetic lines are here to stay because I love them!
