Ernest J. Gaines' "The Sky is Gray" in Madison Smartt Bell, Narrative Design: Gaines is an established novelist, "The Sky is Gray" a story copyrighted in 1976. The first thing I notice about this story, every time, are those numbered parts. Bell's analysis of them on page 199 helps to explain why Gaines might number his sections. This is a device more common in poetry. I think the numbers enhance the developmental nature of the story. As …showed first 75 words of 1155 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1155 total…an agent once told me that he doesn't usually read first-person novels. 2) Formally the first-person may not work for the plots of some of these stories. Recently I got a comment from an editor I trust: the point of view was working against a situation in which my reader learns more about my character early on than she realizes about herself. A few more rejections and I might consider rewriting the story in third person.