For English, the main narrative product was a single story written in a series of three “columns”, three pieces from different perspectives. I’ve formatted them here so that they appear in the form of actual columns. As the story was required dialogue-driven, it remains much the same in all three forms, with the only differences being in non-dialogue narration.
For your reading pleasure, the three columns:
3rd person omniscient
Slumped in two adjacent seats in a dingy, fairly crowded city bus are a student and their backpack. The student is trying to rest up against the window, but with little success thanks to the heavy vibrations of the glass. If it were a great deal quieter, one might hear the clattering of their teeth. Eventually they give up and instead rest only their elbow on the edge of the window, and their chin on their hand. Their other hand rests on top of the backpack, with a wrist through the strap and fingers gently closed around it. An earbud-wrapped smartphone can be seen sticking out of the carelessly closed zipper of the backpack. As they sit, the student keeps jolting from the movements of the bus and from an obvious effort to remain awake enough to get off at the correct stop.
They are wearing a loose, yellow tank top and a slightly too small pair of rusty orange shorts that clash horribly with the patterned blue cloth of the seats. The backpack, for its part, manages to be even more obnoxious with its painfully neon canvas exterior. It’s decorated with a splatter of bleached spots and a messily hand-sewn “EDRA” on the outer pocket. Edra’s clothing speaks of dressing for a sunnier hour of the day, although enough warmth lingers with the now setting sun that they probably wouldn’t be too cold.
As most of the seats are full, a few other passengers seem annoyed by their occupancy of multiple seats. Most don’t care enough to have feelings about it.
The bus stops again, and some passengers leave while some jump on. There is some jostling, being one of the more popular stops. Edra remains, after a cursory glance outside to see where they are and if they can get off yet. After the bus pulls away from the curb, they grab for their phone in resigned anticipation to the wait they have left. They are unsuccessful, because the phone is no longer in their backpack, a fact which is soon discovered by a noticeably more alert Edra.
They do a cursory check under, around, and near their seats, but without any expectation of success. Turning around, they ask the man directly behind their seat, “‘Scuse me, did you see someone take my phone?” and receive a small shake of his head. Running their hand through their hair, Edra sighs and turns to the nearest standing passenger.
“No. Are you sure you didn’t just leave it at home?”
Edra huffs. “As if.”
“Of course, kids these days would sew their phones into their hands if they could. You really should try to once in a while”
1st person
An earbud-wrapped smartphone can be seen sticking out of the carelessly closed zipper of the backpack. As they sit, the student keeps jolting from the movements of the bus and from an obvious effort to remain awake enough to get off at the correct stop.
They are wearing a loose, yellow tank top and a slightly too small pair of rusty orange shorts that clash horribly with the patterned blue cloth of the seats. The backpack, for its part, manages to be even more obnoxious with its painfully neon canvas exterior. It’s decorated with a splatter of bleached spots and a messily hand-sewn “EDRA” on the outer pocket. Edra’s clothing speaks of dressing for a sunnier hour of the day, although enough warmth lingers with the now setting sun that they probably wouldn’t be too cold.
As most of the seats are full, a few other passengers seem annoyed by their occupancy of multiple seats. Most don’t care enough to have feelings about it.
The bus stops again, and some passengers leave while some jump on. There is some jostling, being one of the more popular stops. Edra remains, after a cursory glance outside to see where they are and if they can get off yet. After the bus pulls away from the curb, they grab for their phone in resigned anticipation to the wait they have left. They are unsuccessful, because the phone is no longer in their backpack, a fact which is soon discovered by a noticeably more alert Edra.
They do a cursory check under, around, and near their seats, but without any expectation of success. Turning around, they ask the man directly behind their seat, “‘Scuse me, did you see someone take my phone?” and receive a small shake of his head. Running their hand through their hair, Edra sighs and turns to the nearest standing passenger.
“No. Are you sure you didn’t just leave it at home?”
Edra huffs. “As if.”
“Of course, kids these days would sew their phones into their hands if they could. You really should try to once in a while”
3rd person limited
they give up and instead rest only their elbow on the edge of the window, and their chin on their hand. Their other hand rests on top of the backpack, with a wrist through the strap and fingers gently closed around it. An earbud-wrapped smartphone can be seen sticking out of the carelessly closed zipper of the backpack. As they sit, the student keeps jolting from the movements of the bus and from an obvious effort to remain awake enough to get off at the correct stop.
They are wearing a loose, yellow tank top and a slightly too small pair of rusty orange shorts that clash horribly with the patterned blue cloth of the seats. The backpack, for its part, manages to be even more obnoxious with its painfully neon canvas exterior. It’s decorated with a splatter of bleached spots and a messily hand-sewn “EDRA” on the outer pocket. Edra’s clothing speaks of dressing for a sunnier hour of the day, although enough warmth lingers with the now setting sun that they probably wouldn’t be too cold.
As most of the seats are full, a few other passengers seem annoyed by their occupancy of multiple seats. Most don’t care enough to have feelings about it.
The bus stops again, and some passengers leave while some jump on. There is some jostling, being one of the more popular stops. Edra remains, after a cursory glance outside to see where they are and if they can get off yet. After the bus pulls away from the curb, they grab for their phone in resigned anticipation to the wait they have left. They are unsuccessful, because the phone is no longer in their backpack, a fact which is soon discovered by a noticeably more alert Edra.
They do a cursory check under, around, and near their seats, but without any expectation of success. Turning around, they ask the man directly behind their seat, “‘Scuse me, did you see someone take my phone?” and receive a small shake of his head. Running their hand through their hair, Edra sighs and turns to the nearest standing passenger.
“No. Are you sure you didn’t just leave it at home?”
Edra huffs. “As if.”
“Of course, kids these days would sew their phones into their hands if they could. You really should try to once in a while”
The purpose of having three columns is to present three different interpretations of the narrative, and to emphasize the subjectivity of any form of storytelling. The perspectives I chose were 3rd person omniscient (knowing everything that’s happening), 1st person (told from the perspective of the protagonist), and 3rd person limited (knowing only what the chosen non-protagonist character knows).