The Tool-Kit: Point of View, Narrators and Psychic Distance
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NARRATORS: An Itch of Writing Guide : my most up-to-date and complete ideas about this crucial issue (£)
TRAIN YOUR NARRATOR TO DO EVERYTHING YOU NEED : learn to get up close and personal in third person, and use your first-person narrator for perspective, over-views and covering the ground.
POINT OF VIEW & NARRATORS 1: the basics : what point of view is, what a narrator is, and why it matters
POINT OF VIEW & NARRATORS 2: internal narrators : character-narrators who narrate in first person
POINT OF VIEW & NARRATORS 3: external narrators : limited, switching and privileged point of view in narrators who narrate in third person
POINT OF VIEW & NARRATORS 4: moving point of view and other stories : how to work with a moving point of view, second-person narrators and other stuff
POINT-OF-VIEW: An Itch of Writing Guide : how it works, why it matters, and how to use point-of-view to your story’s best advantage (£)
Itchy Bitesized 6: WHICH VIEWPOINT CHARACTER SHOULD YOU BE USING?
HOW TO MOVE POINT OF VIEW : not just between chapters, but in a single sentence. And why (as long as you do it well) no one can tell you it's not allowed.
PSYCHIC DISTANCE: what it is and how to use it : also called narrative distance, this incredibly helpful way of thinking integrates point-of-view, narrative setup and voice into a single set of decisions.
Itchy Bitesized 21: THREE THOUGHTS ABOUT "BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL"
CIRCLES OF CONSCIOUSNESS : a more useful and sophisticated way of thinking about point-of-view and psychic distance, and how to use it to best effect

