: Ways to remove "filtering" in narration? I have a lot of filtering in my writing: I decided to start my journey at the library. Why? Well, I figured it'd have more reliable information

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I do the same thing when I write. Your second passage does sound better. It puts the reader deeper inside the character's mind -- because rather than reading what the character tells us he's thinking, we're reading exactly what he's thinking.

Don't worry about these during the first draft, but in the next draft you can go through and simply remove all the "I felt", "I saw", "I realized", "I noticed", etc. You'll end up with stronger prose for it.

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Why lay the blame on the narrator? Why not lay the blame on the library?

"Why does the library have a reputation for being the place to coinduct proper researn? Instead of stayiong home, I decided to waste my time and visit the library, and what good did it do?"

btw, i found your second sentence more troubling:
"Once I reached there, though, I realized it wasn't the case"
If you're writing dialog, even internal dialog, it's permissable to be a little less formal, so you could have used "Once I got there" or even "Once there..."

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It largely depends on the context and style of the story you're telling. With the filtering the character would feel less confident, and potentially more inclined to be realistic when the character makes mistakes. The edited version has more confidence and is a stronger sentence.

It could be a reflection of your lack of confidence. A solution might be to write your first draft, allowing whatever filtering makes the writing work for you. Then when you have got a feel for who the character is, go back and make their language sound like them. If the character is someone who would filter a lot, then use it. if not, filter it out!

Get the story written, and then decide the tone and style. You're aware enough of the filtering you are applying to the story to start naturally reducing it, so for the time being, don't worry about it too much and just enjoy the writing.

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