Virginia Woolf and the Internal Clock

The Fluidity of Being

I’ve been re-reading Mrs. Dalloway today, specifically the way Woolf handles the striking of Big Ben. She uses the external clock to anchor the reader, but the “real” time of the novel happens in the fluid, wandering minds of her characters.

Woolf understood that we never just live in the present. Every sight or sound triggers a cascade of past selves and future anxieties. As writers, if we only follow the linear clock, we miss the most interesting part of being human. We must learn to let our characters “wander” within a single second, exploring the vast internal landscapes that open up between heartbeats.

The Monroe Minute
Take a character performing a simple task (like pouring coffee). Write one paragraph about what they are thinking about from five years ago during those ten seconds.

Until the next page,
Sloane S. Monroe

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Sloane Shay Monroe

I don’t write to idealize love, but to explore it honestly, with emotional precision and depth.