: Re: First-person narrative: Does it make more sense to focus on internal thoughts than external gestures? Example: I shook my head unbelieving. Could someone I barely knew know so much about

@Hamaas631

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On what level is the narrator communicating to us?

Are they conscious of the fact that there's a reader (or perhaps a listener), and trying to present themselves in a particular way, or are we getting perfect access to their thoughts?

Are they trying to give us access to their thoughts, but don't know quite how to communicate them?

Are they trying not to give us access to their thoughts, but give themself away unknowingly through their own descriptions of their actions?

Are they the sort of person who is very focused on how they come across to others, or on the relationship between their body and external world (and so will tend to notice what they're physically doing when they react to something) or are they someone who may not notice these things, and instead focus on what they feel internally?

Are they someone who will notice their emotions at all, or will they instead notice how other people are reacting to them (and we learn about them through that)?

Nobody else can answer these questions for you. They depend on you, and the character that exists (for now) only in your head. Get to know your narrator, and the answer will be obvious to you in a way that it never can be for anyone else, because nobody else is you.

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