Memories can add poignancy, reveal clues, and give insight into character behavior.  A character may have a flash of memory every now and again.The key is to keep them short and simple, a sentence or two, perhaps a paragraph, and make them relevant. It helps to trigger memories with something the character sees, smells, touches, or tastes. It can be a person, place, or thing. Songs stick with us and can bring up a feeling or a forgotten person. Smells can take you back to a place and time and the person it reminds you of. Every time Dick sees the ocean on television, he may smell saltwater. Every time Jane smells fresh baked cookies, it may remind her of the grandmother she adored. Every time Sally hears a train, it may remind her of her sad childhood. The neural connection is hard-wired. The response is involuntary. Use memories as a visceral beat. Dick frowned at the impossibly blue sky, perfect sand, and white-edged waves on the travel post...

Last week we began talking about interiority referring to the character's inner life. Today we'll continue with tips on using interiority to improve your story. Internal thoughts and narration do not require quotation marks. It is debatable whether internal dialogue should be italicized or underlined. Style guides insist that italicizing internal thoughts is the same as putting speech in quotation marks. Dick walked down the hallway that smelled of disinfectant. I hate this place , he thought. As mentioned last week, some readers find the switch in tense annoying if the story is written in third person. It can take them out of the total immersion experience. I have seen interiority presented in many ways: Third person without offset: Dick walked down the hallway that smelled of disinfectant. He hated the place. Third person with italics: Dick left the conference room.  I really blew it, he thought to himself . What now? Third person with quotation ma...

Interiority refers to a character's inner life: his thoughts, feelings, and view of the world. In order to show interiority, you have to reveal to the reader your character's internal struggle and self-talk. What he says to himself affects what he does and says to others. Does internal monologue constitute telling? It shouldn't.  Sometimes action and dialogue are not enough. We want to see inside Jane's head. Interiority gives us insight into the character's thought processes, decision-making, internal struggle to do the right (or wrong) thing, his moral compass, and value judgments. It reveals how he perceives other characters, the overall story problem, and his internal dilemma. Interiority is related via interior or internal thoughts, aka interior or internal monologue, aka internal narration. If the character argues with himself or talks to himself, it is interior or internal dialogue. Using interiority well is a skill worth mastering. ...