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Character thoughts (italics? quotes? underlines?)

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Diandra

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I was just wondering, do thoughts in characters' minds go inside quotes, or no quotes at all?
 

DeleyanLee

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Pick something and be consistent. Each publishing house has its own style sheet and you can adapt from there.
 

RobJ

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Hi Diandra, how are thoughts conveyed in the books you read?

Cheers,
Rob
 

Ciera_

No quotes! No quotes! It gets very confusing. Many people just italicize. But for the love of God, please don't use quotation marks. (My opinion as a reader)
 

psykeout

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I was just wondering, do thoughts in characters' minds go inside quotes, or no quotes at all?

I usually go with single quotes, such as 'I can't believe that I actually asked her out' or italicize it, such as I can't believe that I actually asked her out. Either way, be consistent with it and don't switch it around.
 

adtabb

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Use single quotes.

Don't italicize - people with bad vision cannot read italicized print, and will skip it.
 

dpaterso

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I usually go with single quotes, such as 'I can't believe that I actually asked her out'
Use single quotes.
I've never seen single quotes used for character thoughts before. 'Course, I've never read every book ever published, either...

Don't italicize - people with bad vision cannot read italicized print, and will skip it.
Where did you hear this piece of advice?

-Derek
 

Samantha's_Song

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Yep, I'll second that. One line of italics is all I'll read, then I jump to the easier reading or put the book back on the shelf if there's too much of it.

Use single quotes.

Don't italicize - people with bad vision cannot read italicized print, and will skip it.
 

Ciera_

It's a good thing my target audience is teenagers with (for the most part) good vision, then!
 

psykeout

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Derek : I've noticed that if thoughts aren't changed in some way, that readers have a tendency to blend them in with the writing. I've done this on occasion while reading, then have to go back and get that 'Ohhhh' moment. Even with a tag of 'James thought,' it can still be a bit confusing.
 

Samantha's_Song

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Here's a quick bit that I just took from the novel I'm working on now. No Italics, no thought tags, as I think it's petty plain what's going on. He's sitting at the dining table and going over a few things.

[FONT=&quot]He glanced around the room and rested his chin into his left hand. If his wife hadn’t left him, he could have whiled away his time by making her happy. He could have played with his small grandchildren. Maybe he could have even pottered around the garden like his dad used to, not that gardening had ever interested him before.[/FONT]
 

psykeout

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Good point, Samantha. I was thinking more along the lines of when someone is talking to themselves, rather than their thought processes. I guess that I could've made that clearer.
 

Samantha's_Song

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It's weird when you put a bit of work up for the whole world to see, it makes you feel a little naked ;)

I suppose you would use quote dialogue tags for that, as the person is actually talking. Or maybe you could add a muttered to him/herself? I talk to myself all the time :D

Good point, Samantha. I was thinking more along the lines of when someone is talking to themselves, rather than their thought processes. I guess that I could've made that clearer.
 

2Wheels

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But that thought stream example is not written in first person - it's a deep third which I don't believe requires any kind of markup.

I stared at the floor. If I hadn't left my wife, maybe I wouldn't be sitting here alone now, playing tiddlywinks with the guinea pig. The whistle on the kettle sounded, and I got up to ...

or

Why am I sitting here alone?
Roger asked himself, before his thoughts were interrupted by the kettle ...
 

Samantha's_Song

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The initial posting didn't ask about first person. I, personally, don't do first person, I'm leaving that for my memoirs ;)

But that thought stream example is not written in first person - it's a deep third which I don't believe requires any kind of markup.
 
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So you're saying your personal experience should apply to all printed text?

Luckily, most readers have two eyes.

I italicise thoughts and never, never, never use quote marks - either double or singles. If I did, the reader would think it was speech, not thought.

In manuscript format, I use underlines to show where the italics would go.
 

Samantha's_Song

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I have two eyes, but one of them has a slow growing cataract on it (because of my diabetes). If we could get all books in large print, as my Man on fire is, then it would be okay, but you can't, so I won't strain my eyes to read italics and will not write in them, besides one emphasised word for impact, either.
 

dpaterso

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(to adtabb and Samantha's Song) - I appreciate as how eyesight problems influence your stance re italics, I'm not exactly 20/20 myself, but (and without trying to sound snarky or anything) advising other writers not to use italics because this affects you personally, doesn't quite seem right...

-Derek
 
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I have two eyes, but one of them has a slow growing cataract on it (because of my diabetes). If we could get all books in large print, as my Man on fire is, then it would be okay, but you can't, so I won't strain my eyes to read italics and will not write in them, besides one emphasised word for impact, either.

To others: forgive all perceived snark as me and SS are friends offsite as well. :D One takes liberties with friends.

To SS: It seems more than a tad self-defeating to refuse to use one particular tool because it doesn't suit you and is industry standard.

Say for instance you sent a manuscript to a publisher and they had trouble working out which words were speech and which were thoughts? How to separate thoughts from speech? Simple. Italicise them (or underline in manuscript format, as is standard). If you refuse to do this, you're shooting yourself in the foot.
 

Makai_Lightning

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I thought italics were pretty standard.

I would never use quotes, since I know I would read it as speech.

Depending on how it's written, nothing might be needed, and I'm not particularly fond of large italics paragraphs just because I don't like the way they look, but for lines of thought here and there I'd use italics. Same for emphasising words, which is somewhat apparent as I just did that above, and do so all the time in written communication.

Funny, for first person is generally when I find even less need for designating thoughts than 3rd. The only time I think I've done it is when my MC was really, really anxious, and his immediate thought blended with the stories.

Something (roughly) along the lines of:

"But why? What do you want me to do? Why do we fight?" he says. He must be new at this, he must be. He's too attentive to me to notice the guy coming up behind him with the knife. Slice across the neck and he's gone. Because otherwise that'd happen, stupid. But I don't have time for him, I have to keep moving. No one's catching me.


^^ Maybe not the best example, but that's more or less how I'd do something like that in 1st person. 3rd person I find I don't need too many direct thoughts, though when I do them I just write the thoughts and italicise.
 
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