‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston: Free Indirect Discourse done right

Free indirect speech. Free indirect discourse. Free indirect style. Three ways to describe a writing device that I have always adored and I was thrilled to see it showing a strong display in ‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston.

If you read a lot of first person books (hello, I’ve just come off a New Adult and Sports College Romance binge and those are almost exclusively written in the first person) then there can be something quite jarring about coming across free indirect discourse.

Free indirect speech is a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech; it is also referred to as free indirect discourse, free indirect style, or, in French, discours indirect libre.

Free indirect speech can be described as a "technique of presenting a character's voice partly mediated by the voice of the author" (or, reversing the emphasis, "that the character speaks through the voice of the narrator") with the voices effectively merged.[1] This effect is partially accomplished by eliding direct speech attributions, such as "he said" or "she said".

(Source: Wikipedia. Because we use only reputable resources here, folks)

It’s a writing style and I think it adds so much volume and character to a text when done right. It’s often accidental, for instance, if an author has been working with first person and then starts using third person it can be quite restrictive. If you choose an omniscient third person narrator then you can see the whole picture and flit between characters without having to make a chapter switch, or a clear cut. But then you can sometimes miss the connection with the reader; it’s not as personal.

Make it third person close and you can bring the reader’s POV right onto the protagonist’s shoulder. What they see you see. What they know you know. But if you really want to express a character’s intimate thoughts and quirks without having them speaking aloud… There’s another way and that’s through free indirect discourse.

It’s a beautifully blended technique that marries the best bits from both first and third person perspectives.

So what you get is a narrator that has one foot in, one foot out, of the main character (quite literally) and they will tell the story with some of that character’s individual expressions and world experiences.

For example (source: me):

“Blue was going to be late, and in their rush to leave they caught their toe on the sharp edge of the coffee table again. They sucked a hissing breath through their teeth and blinked back tears. Outside, the rain pelted harder against the windows; they would have to wait for the next bus in the downpour.”

vs.

“Blue was in such a rush trying to leave the damn place on time, that they stubbed their toe on the coffee table again! Sheesh, nothing hurts worse. And to hell with it, they were probably going to miss the bus and have to sit in the pissing rain for the next one.”

You could keep mixing and matching both of those passages until you got the balance you wanted. There are no real rules on how much free indirect discourse you need to use for it to count as such.

If you want a stellar example of it on paper, then open up a copy of ‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston (and yes, it IS our pick for BookClubbers this month! Huzzah!)

Why is Tammy Brown featured here? I mean… Why wouldn’t they be? Icon.

It helps you instantly get a nuanced glimpse at August’s character, butttt it withholds enough information that there are still so many unanswered questions. And that’s another element of free indirect discourse that I think is really fun. It adds a sense of mystery without having to play with the reliability of your narrator. With free indirect discourse we get to see those cool, individualities that make August unique, but we can tell that there is more to know there. I was 5% into the book when I just KNEW that this particular element was going to lead me to giving it a high star rating regardless of where the story went. Casey McQuiston is a real talent; clever, emotional and addictive writing (have you read ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’? Yah. An author who knows how to reel in a readership).

Do you have a favourite writing device?

‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston

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Written by Sarah