202 What Was I Thinking: Interiority in Memoir and Fiction (ENGLISH)

Vivian Gornick in THE SITUATION AND THE STORY says, “”In memoir, what happened to the writer is not what matters; what matters is what the writer makes of what happened.”” The same is true when you’re writing fiction. Readers want to know what the point of view character was thinking — even when that point of view character is you. In this workshop, we’ll look at how to write interiority, i.e. what you or your character is thinking and feeling, in a compelling and fresh way. We’ll discuss using imagery, metaphor and analogy, flashback (which of course is always interior), and the very handy phrase ‘I pictured’ or ‘I imagined.’ We’ll also talk about when interiority is called for, and when you can just proceed with the action, as well as how to handle the emotional climax (perhaps the trickiest section of any book)We will also look at examples from published works to examine how the masters of craft reveal what they or their characters are thinking, and how you can too.Published works we will discuss include THE LONELINESS OF SONJA AND SONNY, CRYING IN H MART, WAVE, BAD BAD GIRL, SOME BRIGHT NOWHERE, BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS.

Instructor

Janis Cooke Newman