“This lasted until the night that the damn thing discharged under my ear. If I’d been sleeping with my head on the other half of the pillow, I would probably not be telling you this story now, but I escaped unharmed. The pillow exploded into a blizzard of feathers and the bullet took out the lamp and buried itself in the closet door…I have, as I told you, reader, the psychic sensitivities of mud” (What Moves the Dead, Kingfisher, 54).

I’ll try my best to analyze some aspects of the above quote, but it’s a little difficult as my source is a work of fiction and is not countering any topics. This work serves as a source for me in two ways. First, it is written in first-person, which is the same point of view that I’m writing my novella in. Secondly, it has aspects of a horror/thriller, and while my work isn’t entirely focused on that genre, it does have some horror imagery. I’ve decided to analyze Kingfisher’s use of first-person narrative, as shown by the paragraph above. Her novel, What Moves the Dead, is a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Like in the original story, the narrator in Kingfisher’s retelling speaks directly to the reader, as though he were writing a letter or directly recounting the events in person. While addressing the reader is not uncommon, I feel that it must be done frequently enough to remind the reader of their “participation” in the work, but not frequently enough that it becomes overbearing. I haven’t completely finished Kingfisher’s work, but it seems that the narrator very rarely addresses the reader and when he does, it feels almost jarring, as though you were suddenly reminded that the narrator is aware of you. Although it may work to add tension/mystery into a horror/thriller genre, it feels of little significance in Kingfisher’s work. In my (limited) experience, I’d suggest writers to make a decision early on if he/she/they want to address a reader directly. It’s more common in contemporary works to not address the reader, which tends to be a safer option. If an author decides to address the reader within a first-person narrative, I’d recommend establishing that connection early on, either in the form of a letter or by directly addressing the reader within the first chapter/section to avoid jarring the reader later by their sudden participation.