![]() “We went to the store to get the wedding dress, and then out for coffee afterward. Inner life and reflection are important in all fiction and creative nonfiction, but especially important in memoir, because we are trying to understand our emotional selves as we write and need to share those insights with readers. Too often, writers depict action in scenes without offering enough clues about how those actions are affecting the narrator, forgetting that the reader is tracking what happens internally as much as externally. With no narrator guidance or reflection, we don’t have insight into what’s occurring in the story-no context to understand the action taking place. I never thought that my mother would do such a thing to me. ![]() The narrator translates and interprets an action by offering a reaction. Through the narrator, you learn what’s at stake-what the tensions and conflicts in the story are, even if they’re internal. The narrator guides you through the action and setting, and guides you to understand the psychology of the characters, goals, conflicts, and themes being explored. ![]() When you read a book, a nearly invisible narrator is guiding you through the text-helping you to focus on the important things in your story. ![]()
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