CNF TALK: Putting Interiority on the Page: Crafting an Internal Arc in CNF, Fiction,& Poetry by Camille U. Adams

Workshop Description: In nonfiction, in fiction, in poetry, there is a need for the narrator’s, the protagonist’s, the speaker’s deep interiority. How does the narrator think and information glean? How do they interact with their available memories? What are their treasured hopes and dreams? What are the stakes as determined by their urgent needs? What are the personal obstacles they conceal? What can they sensorially, emotionally and intuitively feel? What are their vulnerabilities that render them “real”?

Authentic and resonant, that is, to the reader of this persona plotted onto the page. Readers require knowing your narrator in order to connect with them, to understand the story, and to stay engaged. How then do you seamlessly communicate the speaker’s internal confusion, resolve, joy, pain, or rage? Without writing boring “I felt”, “she thought”, “they decided” statements that make your prose and poetry clunky, didactic, and unbelievable. Charting subtle, interwoven, deftly…