Is it a bad practice to occasionally add first-person narrative to third-person narrative?
This is a sample of something I wrote:
Erin watched Ruth as she disappeared between the cars and the multitude of people crossing the street. She stood there for a moment, staring at the city scene in front of her. A strange feeling of loneliness and alienation invaded her. Not long ago, there was someone here, and now that person isn't here anymore. It was a simple and obvious fact. And even though Erin had experienced it a thousand of times before, she felt as if it were the first. She shook her head. I drank too much. The alcohol is doing funny stuff to my brain. She turned around, let out a sigh, then went down the escalator.
I was wondering if it is a bad practice to combine third-person narration with first-person narration without using he/she thought, she/he wondered, etc (and just using italics instead)?
(Of course, I will do this in moderation).
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/6932. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
The italics indicate that the words are the person's thoughts, so it's almost the same as speech. It's entirely fine. I agree with Joel, however, in reminding you not to overdo it (or any given technique).
(On an entirely separate note, why is she walking down an escalator? Escalators move. Is it broken or does she want to go faster than it's carrying her?)
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