Capturing Interior Lives

by Sarah Creech

One of the most difficult filmmaking techniques to execute well, beyond a good sex scene, is the voiceover. I was a teenager when American Beauty was released in theaters. Critics praised the use of voiceover as innovative and powerful. It was as if no filmmakers had ever attempted the technique before. Of course, they had, but I was young and remember feeling like critics wanted to convince me that this use of voiceover was new and bold and poetic.

And yet, to me, it was awkward. And I remember feeling like the novels I loved so much handled access to the interior lives of characters with far more nuance and elegance. As fiction and narrative nonfiction writers, we owe a debt to playwrights and their use of interior monologue and soliloquy. Interiority in the development of the novel and later in nonfiction was first inspired by the dramatic arts, and it continues to develop in contemporary storytelling, film included.

Filmmakers are finding better ways to use narrators and voiceover to capture the interior lives of characters. I love the creative and truly innovative use of these techniques in Mindy Kaling’s hit Netflix show Never Have I Ever, where celebrities like tennis legend John McEnroe and model Gigi Hadid narrate the interior lives of a diverse set of angsty teenage characters.

Still, despite television being in its golden age of innovative storytelling, access to the interior keeps me returning to the page and remains a power that fiction and narrative nonfiction have in book form that visual storytelling lacks.

But how do we access the interior lives of our characters? And when? And how much is too much or too little? These questions confront writers in every draft at every stage of their journey. We care about connection and relatability between characters and readers. Interiority as a craft technique makes that connection possible.