The first person narrative is often based around one character. The reader bases their understanding of what is described through the character’s perspective, experiences and feelings.

Sign up to receive our weekly cultural-recommendations newsletter. The first person is a narrative style as old as storytelling itself—one that, at its best, allows ...

Because Health Affairs is a health policy journal, Narrative Matters essays have a policy tie-in to their stories. It’s this policy aspect that makes first-person stories into policy narratives.

And that is it. Anything else probably will not much resemble narration; it may be closer to poetry, or prose-poetry. In reality, we are stuck with third- and first-person narration. The common idea ...