You’ve got an exciting plot. Compelling characters. And the action is moving along at a crisp pace. But something still feels flat.Chances are, your character’s interior world isn’t fully making it onto the page.
In this episode, we’re talking about the layer that gives your story emotional weight and resonance—character interiority.
You’ll learn:
✔️ What interiority actually is (and what it’s not)
✔️ Why readers crave it
✔️ And 5 powerful techniques to reveal your character’s inner life without slowing your story down
If you’ve ever been told to “go deeper” into your character, or wondered how to make your scenes more emotionally engaging, this episode’s for you.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Episode at a glance:
[03:26] Character Interiority
Interiority is the private internal experience of your point-of-view character in the moment. It’s the thoughts, perceptions, feelings and flashes of meaning that make us feel what it’s like to be him or her. The character’s interior is not backstory, introspect on dumps, or exposition.
[13:19] Micro-Drop Thoughts
Micro thought drops are one of the most effective and efficient ways to work interiority into a scene without slowing down the pacing. They’re short character specific thoughts or judgments that slip into the action and reveal emotion, bias or subtext in a single beat
[16:22] Implied Interiority
Sometimes your character won’t or can’t put their feelings into words. They might be overwhelmed in denial or simply trying to hold it all together. It shows up in a gesture, a silence, or the way your character leaves a sentence unfinished.
[19:36] The Half-Revealed Thought
Sometimes your character won’t fully name what they’re feeling. Instead, they’ll do something emotionally loaded, and then we’ll get a flicker of thought that hints at the emotion underneath but doesn’t say it outright. It gives us just enough interiority to feel something deeper at play without fully unpacking it.
[21:24] Embodied Interiority
Sometimes your character won’t name what they’re feeling. They won’t think I’m anxious or I’m furious or I’m about to cry, but their body will tell us everything. It’s a physical reaction that mirrors a hidden emotion.
[23:49] Interior Monologue
Interior monolog is when we follow a character’s stream of thought in real time, often, as they try to process, interpret or make meaning from what’s happening.
Links Mentioned In This Episode:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
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