Narrative Voice in Pratchett's Maskerade

Maskerade, a novel by Terry Pratchett, is a humorous who-done-it in the fantasy world of Discworld. The novel follows Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax as they travel to Ankh-Morpork to simultaneously obtain some royalties owed Nanny and recruit Agnes Nitt as a third witch in their dwindling coven. Along the way, they solve a series of mysterious murders at the city’s opera house. Pratchett tells the story from all three witches’ perspectives, and even though he does not use chapter demarcations, the narrative voice is so distinct between the witches that it becomes obvious quickly which witch is the perspective character for each scene. Each witch has her own dialect, her own patterns of thought, and her own insecurities (or lack thereof) to guide the reader easily through the story.

When Nanny Ogg is telling the story, it appears almost as if she’s trying to tip toe around the bluntness to which her personality naturally gravitates. It is as if she would phrase quite a bit of what she …