Dead Ringer by Nicola Martin

Let your readers hear your protagonist’s thoughts – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

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Dead Ringer started life as a third-person novel, until my agent suggested I make it first-person.

This was a big change, but it made the protagonists’ voices much clearer. The reader gets to sit in their heads, hear their thoughts.

This, I think, is the superpower of novels (versus TV or movies). You get to hear what the main character’s thinking. In a way, you even become that character while you’re reading.

I’ve used third-person for other projects since writing Dead Ringer, but the act of changing a whole novel to first-person taught me something. I learned to become much more attuned to the character’s thoughts. I began weaving internal monologue into third-person stories a lot more.

My advice: don’t get so caught up in action and dialogue and description that you forget the importance of communicating your protagonist’s thoughts.

Read more of the things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

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