On our August office hour, a group of us got together as writers to talk, first and foremost, about interiority. You know the part of the narrative that goes deep into a character’s head, like especially the main character. This also connects to “narrative distance” and we got into that as well.
A lot of writers have the problem early on that too much of the story happens in a character’s head—pages go by and the character hasn’t done much w/ his or her body. Mostly just thinking. And in a good, well-crafted scene, a writer may want to take us into a character’s head, too. So we talked about how to do that.
How to transition between point of view narratives? Between interior and exterior descriptions and actions? Between near and far narrative distance??
Using examples of stories by Patricia Highsmith and Dashiell Hammett, we talked about various approaches and best practices for writers of all levels.
We also looked at when in a character’s story it’s appropriate to get into inner thought — NOT in the middle of a fight scene! — and why writing what a character sees and does makes such a good connection with readers. Hint: it has to do with building a chronology, a series of events.
Listen or watch and find out more!
Join us for our next office hour on Sept 15, 2022 by joining my mailing list here.
