: Re: Any Tips On Writing Extended Recollection In A Novel So, I've been working for about a month now on my latest novel but have come across some issues in regards to recollections of past events.

@Dunderdale623

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A crucial question: does the psychiatrist contribute anything to the story, or is he mainly the setting, the excuse as it where, for your protagonist to tell the story?

If the psychiatrist makes no meaningful contribution, you can have considerable chunks of your story in first-person narration, no interruptions by the psychiatrist. Let the readers all but forget the psychiatrist is there, and immerse themselves in the protagonist's story. Think about it: it is not at all uncommon to have a complete story told in first person narration. That's what you'll be having, the psychiatrist serving merely as a framing device.

This technique can envelop all the story, or it can be a part of it. For example, in Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, Corwin is the main protagonist. At one point, his brother Random tells him about something that happened to him. For the space of a chapter, Corwin disappears, and all we have is Random's first-person narration, as gripping as any story told in first person. It doesn't matter that in-story Random is talking to his brother rather than to the readers directly. As far as the narration goes, it's all the same. When Random's story is finished, we go back to Corwin.

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