Today was a good day. The weather cooperated so I was able to finish fiberglassing the bear’s chin. And behold! A video to prove it.

While the fiberglass was kicking, I worked on the bear’s arms. It took me a little while to figure out exactly how I wanted the gusset under the arm to be, but I’m very, very pleased with the results. I completely assembled the left arm, with boning, and pinned it to the body. The movement is wonderful. I’m delighted. The right arm has all of the bone tubing in place, so I just have to slid the boning in tomorrow. I’ll attach both arms, which will need hand-stitching and take some photos.

Next up, the pelvis.

The tricky thing with reading a story written in the first person is that your narration has the same voice as your main character’s dialogue. There is a simple trick for differentiating when your POV character is narrating and when she is addressing someone else.

For the narration, think, “I am having an intimate conversation in a quiet room.” For the speaking voice, think “I’m talking in a public space.” Without having to do anything fancy, you’ll cause a slight shift in the tone quality of your voice. That sort of shift can serve as a clear marker for which is which.

You’ll want your narration to be more emotionally invested than in most third person stories, but
besides that, it’s pretty much the same as handling any other story.

Yes, it’s a short lesson this week. I’m building a Polar Bear.

Next Friday, I’ll be traveling back to the U.S., so I have an assignment for you.

Download Audacity, which is a very easy (free) digital editing program. Pick one of your short stories and record it using all the things we’ve gone over with these lessons. Then comes the fun part; if you send me the link, I’ll give you a critique.