How do you write a first-person scene that the narrator is not in?

Question

Let's say there is a woman named Hayley narrating a story, so the story would be in first person from Hayley's point of view. But what if I want to write a scene between, say, Joey and Emily? Hayley wouldn't be in the scene, so it technically wouldn't make sense for her to narrate it because she wouldn't be aware of what was going on. Would the story temporality switch to third person? How would that work?

Thanks in advance!

Pegatha · Answer

Wuthering Heights does this a lot. It usually takes the form of someone who was there telling the narrator all about it after the fact.

Also, there's nothing that says you can't have more than one first-person narrator in a story. Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, does this with great effect in her books.

Athena · Answer

You don't.
In the first person the narrator IS the person telling the story.
If they are not there, nobody can know what is going on.
That is one of many problems with writing in the first person.

Spero · Answer

Quite a few authors will put scenes not about the main character in italic text, thereby separating it. In the Mistborn novels (which I am currently reading), the author does this at the beginning of every chapter. You would just have to write it in third person.

Blank · Answer

If I remember correctly, in the maximum ride series, James Patterson wrote chapters in a different font and in third person

Anonymous · Answer

Perhaps use a letter or a diary entry, which your Hayley character reads?

Drewby · Answer

"Joey described it to me later...
"Later I learned Joey and Emily...
etc

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How do you write a first-person scene that the narrator is not in?

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