"The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe & POV Exercise

This week in my classes we've been discussing "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Great, classic unreliable narrator story. So short. Takes 5 minutes to read. Perfect for Halloween season.

Note how he addresses the reader-- trying to convince us of something. Are you convinced by the end? Note how he tells you one thing (that he's perfectly sane! sane, I tell you!) and shows another. 

Even though we are only seeing through his POV--and never through anyone else's POV-- he shows us something that he himself does not know. (How batshit crazy he is.) 

I can't emphasize enough how handy this is to remember when you are inside your character's POV: You can show us things your character does not know.

Exercise: Set the timer for 15 minutes. Writing from your main character's point of view, show us something your character is not aware of.