Writing an Expansive “I” [Mary Potter]
All Levels. Writing in first-person may seem easy, but it presents its own challenges. The trick is to write a narrating “I” that has a distinctive voice but that is also inviting, trustworthy, and expansive—an “I” that makes room for the reader, elicits trust, and expands the world beyond the voice and experience of the individual narrator. Close readings of excerpts will yield nine techniques for creating a fluid, multi-dimensional “I,” and we’ll practice these techniques (“I” exercises) in class.