Interiority Meaning:
Developing Character
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
I'm a firm believer in the importance of using interiority to flesh out character, but some writers still struggle with interiority meaning. I’ll unpack it here, and also give you tips for how to incorporate interiority into your own writing. If you want to make your protagonist more three-dimensional and relatable, developing character interiority should be your top priority.
Interiority Meaning in Literature
While some writers may find it hard to access a character’s emotions, this is necessary to pull off interiority meaning deeper access to character. If the tool of interiority is used well and at key moments and turning points in your manuscript, you will be accessing your character’s thoughts and rendering them on the page in a realistic and nuanced way. True interiority meaning doesn’t happen in occasional dumps of reflective material, or inconsistently. It happens in small moments and at emotional turning points over the course of an entire plot arc. This is where a lot of writers get confused.
Rather than overhauling the entire novel, you should focus on moments where the character is having an emotional reaction, or reaction beats, because that is where interiority can shine.
Developing Character Interiority Isn’t Easy
I recently worked with a client who was struggling to render a character’s emotions effectively. I admired her self-awareness in recognizing that she was having this difficulty. However, by making small changes, she became more comfortable with interiority meaning, and was able to add a lot of dimensionality to her protagonist.
When describing emotions, this client would resort to physical clichés to represent the protagonist’s feelings rather than writing character thoughts on the page. His heart hammering meant he was nervous, his fists clenching conveyed anger, and his face blushing showed passion or embarrassment. Yet these surface-level physical reactions give no depth to the emotion that he was feeling. They were superficial at best, generic at worst. This client had to take interiority meaning to heart—in other words, she had to dig below the surface to find out what was driving her character’s emotional states.
There were so many layers to discover, stemming from the character’s objective, motivation, and backstory. What was he nervous about, specifically? Was the anger directed at someone else or himself? Interiority meaning can be tough to grasp, but once you start reading like a writer, you will notice that characters often have thoughts and reactions about the events of the story, the more specific and full of context, the better.
I often coach my clients to ask, “And? So?” at important moments in the story. How does the plot point land with your protagonist? What are their reactions? What do they see as the consequences or ramifications of events (in other words, the stakes)? These questions help us to uncover the nuances that will develop the character and the plot.
To help with creating interiority meaning, keep a checklist of these types of questions near your writing station:
What is your character doing right now, and why?
What do they expect to happen, and what worries them?
How do they feel about themselves, their scene partner, and the overall plot of the story?
What are they being proactive about in this moment?
Although you don't have to address these questions in every scene, you can use them as a guide when your character is feeling some emotion to interiority meaning.
Interiority Meaning: Add Subtle Components to the Big Moments
When a character is dealing with strong feelings (like anger, fear, or lust), try to find two or three secondary emotions that help underpin their situation further or create extra tension and give their interiority meaning. You don't have to include all of this material in the story—it's up to you which parts you want to share with the reader and which are merely there to inform your own writing.
Emotions are complex and should be treated with care. When you find yourself stuck on a particular scene, take a few minutes and answer some of the questions above. Putting a character’s specific feelings and reactions on the page in the form of interiority will make all the difference in your characterization, and your writing craft.
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Click here to purchase Writing Interiority: Crafting Irresistible Characters, my book on interiority and character creation. Explore your protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, reactions and interpretations, expectations, and inner struggles to create a rich, immersive experience. This guide will empower you to create characters who live and breathe on the page, fostering an unbreakable bond with your audience.