First-person is a highly versatile point of view. And there’s always an implied audience. In today’s episode, we’ll explore 3 varieties of first-person narration, with a focus on who the first-person character is addressing.
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Episode at a glance:
[01:58] Interior Monologue. This is when your first person character is thinking. It’s his/her own self talk. It’s a private conversation with the self. We’ll pull an example from Dorothy Parker.
[04:43] Dramatic Monologue. With dramatic monologue, a character is addressing an implied audience, another character or group of characters who are off stage. This can sustain a short story, and it’s a great exercise to delve deeper into your character’s psychology. As with monologue on stage, this first- person character is revealing significant backstory, and/or his or her self.
[08:47] Subjective First-Person. All first person and even third person narrators are subjective. Learn the main difference between a third person narrator and first person narrator, the degrees of reliability, and why unreliability is compelling to readers.
Also Listen To
Episode 120: Writing In First Person: 5 Challenges And How to Conquer Them
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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