First-Person POV: Ditch the Cash Register Narration

When you choose a narrator, you're choosing whose personality the reader will inhabit for an entire book. Get it wrong, and you might find yourself rewriting 80,000 words. (I've seen it happen.)

We're using Vivian the Professional Mourner as our case study to explore what first-person narrators can and can't tell us, why filter words create distance, and how to leverage your character's unique knowledge without slipping into omniscient narration.

🛋️

Overthinking Couch Topics:

• Why POV is a personality choice, not just a grammar choice
• What can your narrator actually tell us?
• Cash register narration might be ruining your story
• "And then" testimony vs. lived experience

Next Episode: Third-Person POV

The Writing Break podcast is a six-time award-winning show for writers who want writing tips and publishing insights. Hosted by a freelance book editor with 20+ years of experience editing for major publishing houses.

Subscribe because you deserve a Writing Break.

• Home : America's Editor - Let's work together.
• More Writing Tips

Music licensed from Storyblocks.