Recently I talked to some groups of writers about interiority, and the importance of balancing it out in stories. As I've been thinking about the topic some more, I wanted to do a follow-up post on the problems that arise when it is unbalanced.
(Not to mention it also seemed like a good follow-up to my recent post on the internal plotline.)
But first, let's go over what interiority is.
What is Interiority?
Interiority is everything that happens inside your character--typically the viewpoint character.
This includes the character's thoughts (introspection) and feelings that aren't externally observable, like a speeding heart or dry mouth.
Interiority is the internal experience of the character.
Interiority and Point of View
This is obviously true if you are writing in first person, because the character is the one telling the story, so the narrative is relayed as if the audience is in that person's mind and body.
It's also almost always true for third person, which is often also rendered as if the audience is in one character's mind and body (at least one at a time).
Even in omniscient point of view, which is rarer, the narration may dip into and out of characters' minds and bodies, so interiority may be used then.
The perhaps one exception where interiority isn't used, is when the author is writing in what's called distant or objective point of view.
This is a rare subcategory of third person point of view, but it's one where no interiority is used. The story is written more like a movie in the sense that the narrator views everyone and everything from the outside (which is why this is also sometimes called "cinematic writing"). There are no thoughts on the page. There are no internal feelings or sensations. You may still get appeals to senses like smell and taste, but you don't get access to how those things impact anyone internally. The audience is sort of like a film camera, following the characters around.
Objective point of view is even less popular these days than omniscient point of view, and perhaps even more frowned upon. But historically it has been more accepted in some genres than others, like in crime fiction (where maybe you don't necessarily want to get inside the person's mind and body). If you want to read an example of objective point of view, check out The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. You can read the opening pages here.
Alternatively, you can also read the opening chapter of Deathly Hallows, which also uses objective point of view (for that chapter only).
Other genres would likely be totally crippled by pure cinematic writing, like romance or women's fiction, which almost always rely heavily on interiority.
And objective point of view is rarely ever a good idea for character-driven stories. You obviously can't really render much of an internal plotline, if there is no interiority. I mean, you could maybe try, through subtext and other means, but it would be extremely difficult to convey a satisfying one.
With all that said, though, objective point of view does have a place, and can work well in certain kinds of stories.
But as the title suggests, today's post is about interiority. So let's move on with that.
Balancing Interiority
When it comes to interiority, it's important to find the right balance. This may differ somewhat from story to story. A story that is very plot-driven will have less interiority, while a story that is very character-driven will have more interiority. But these categories exist on a spectrum; most stories aren't strictly plot-driven or character-driven--many fit somewhere in the middle. And unless you are writing in objective point of view, interiority is important to both, regardless.
As mentioned, interiority is also made of two parts: thoughts (introspection) and feelings (internal sensations--typically this relates to emotions specifically). Both of these are important and need to be balanced as well. So let's go over some of the problems that can come up when they aren't.
Too Much Interiority
Introspection
One of the big stumbling blocks for beginning writers is that they tend to write too much introspection.
It's not unusual to work with a brand new writer and see paragraphs upon paragraphs of introspection, all about what the character is thinking and what has happened in her past and how she got to where she is now. Usually, to top it off, the character isn't actually doing anything physically (it's a bathtub story). She's just sitting and thinking or standing and thinking. This is a problem for several reasons, the main one being that the story lacks immediacy.
Beginning writers tend to focus introspection on the past--what has already happened. This is often not very interesting to the audience. Because the past has already happened, it can't (usually) be changed. The present, and the future, are exciting, because they can change, and take the character in a whole new direction. They can carry more urgency and tension.
The audience usually only cares about the past, when they are already invested in the present (or future) of the story, and when visiting the past adds meaning to the present or has the capacity to alter the near future. (For a more thorough rundown on all that, you can check out my post on flashbacks.)
Because of the lack of immediacy (the character isn't actually doing anything) and focus on the past, the story isn't progressing, and this will bring its pacing to a grinding halt. Boring.
Introspection is also often full of abstracts. The abstract isn't always bad, but it doesn't usually pull the audience in like the concrete does. It doesn't transport them into the story. It typically doesn't help get them invested in the story.
When it comes to introspection, it's usually best to follow "less is more." With that said though, there are definitely times where you can wax strong in it, like when the character is reacting to a major plot turn.
Emotions
Other problems can come up when the writer focuses too much on the character's emotional experience. This is an easy mistake to make. Many new writers fairly think that in order to write a story that is emotionally impactful, you need to focus on rendering the emotions powerfully. It makes sense, right?
In reality, though, the best way to evoke powerful emotions in your audience, is to focus the text on what causes those emotions, so that the audience feels the emotions for themselves. They are vicariously experiencing what the character is experiencing. This creates empathy, not sympathy--and empathy is more powerful.
(Obviously though, there are situations where you can't have or don't want the audience to experience those same emotions--those cases will be handled differently.)
When someone overwrites a character's emotions, it creates melodrama. It feels like the character is overreacting to whatever caused them to feel that way. This often annoys the audience.
The main rule of thumb here, is that the character's emotions on the page should get less focus than whatever caused those emotions. What caused those emotions gets more focus.
So, if someone steps on your character's toe, and the text goes on and on about how that made her feel, it'll sound melodramatic. If your character's friend died, then the text can go on longer, because it's a bigger blow--however, it's still possible to overdo it (and if you do, it will steer the audience away from empathy). The bigger the blow, the more you can get away with, but if you write too much, it takes the (emotional) work out of the audience, so that they don't have to feel the feelings.
(Of course, though, there are exceptions to everything, and one time where overwriting the emotions could work is when the point is to show that the character is melodramatic.)
If you find yourself running into the problems here, then you likely need to cut back on the interiority.
Too Little Interiority
Too little interiority will, of course, bring its own issues.
Unless you are strictly writing in objective point of view (and for good reasons), the audience may start to wonder if your character thinks or feels anything. She may come across as robotic or empty-headed. The audience may wonder things like, "Why isn't she sad her friend died?" or "Why isn't she considering this strange guy to be dangerous?"
This often creates a weird effect, like the audience is sort of "blind."
This usually goes hand-in-hand with the audience lacking proper context. In fiction, context is all the stuff the audience needs to accurately understand, follow, and interpret what is happening in the story. For example, if a dear friend calls the protagonist "Sandra" instead of her name "Cindy," and the audience isn't clued into why, the passage lacks context. The audience will be stuck wondering why the friend said "Sandra," and they will start to wonder if it was an error on the writer's part, if their wonderings don't get validated.
Interiority is often crucial in conveying context to the audience. This is important intellectually and emotionally.
Introspection
My example above could be fixed by adding some introspection like this: "Maddy sometimes called me Sandra, a joke from when we'd first met and she'd misheard me."
This thought allows the audience to properly interpret what is happening in the story.
Often if there isn't enough introspection, the audience struggles to follow, logically, what is going on and why.
There are admittedly other ways to bring in intellectual context (such as through dialogue), but introspection is one of the most important, and perhaps the most used.
Introspection is also often key in conveying motive, and it's critical when the viewpoint character thinks something that contradicts what he presents to the world.
Without it, the audience will feel more distant from the character, which usually makes it harder for them to get invested in the story.
Emotions
The emotional experience is also important in creating context. If the protagonist's friend dies, and she doesn't seem to experience any emotion, the audience will be wondering why she's not sad or why she doesn't seem to feel anything at all.
This can make it harder for the audience to follow and interpret the story emotionally.
This can be a bigger problem in some stories than in others. In particular, context can be important in speculative fiction. If a dragon lands on your protagonist's property, and the character doesn't seem to experience any emotion, the audience isn't sure how to interpret the beast. Is this creature a mindless lizard that could kill the character--something to be feared? Or is it a sentient godlike being that could aide the character--something to be hopeful about? Often the character's emotional response will help clue the audience in.
Again, this isn't to say there aren't other ways to convey emotional context, but interiority is one of the most important ways.
While too much emotion will take power away from the audience, no emotion will unsettle the audience.
Much of the other points here mirror those of the previous section. Emotions can also be used to help convey motive, and they can be important when what the character feels is at odds with what he presents. Without emotions, the character will feel more distant.
With all this said though, I do want to recognize that not all emotions show up only internally. Crying is something that is externally observable. But if you only use external indicators, the character (and emotions) will feel distant.
It's also worth mentioning that not all internal feelings are the result of emotion. A scratchy throat may be from an allergic reaction or nausea may come from the flu. Sensations like these help the audience feel as if they are there as that character, experiencing the story. I've chosen not to focus on these sorts of feelings for this article, because they usually aren't what people are thinking of when they think of interiority, and their function is rather simplistic. Their (main) purpose is to transport the audience into the story, and they are arguably a type of imagery.
In any case, if you find your story having some of these listed problems, you likely need to add more interiority.
I'm sure I'll be revisiting the topic of interiority in the future, but for now, I hope this has been helpful to you. With the holidays coming up, I may or may not get another blog post up.
However, if you can't wait for a future post, and would like to read more on the topic, I have some other related articles:
How to Write Excellent Introspection
Breaking Writing Rules Right: "Never Open with Introspection"
The "Bathtub Story": Why it's a Problem, How to Fix it, When to Use it
The Technicalities of Writing Thoughts
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