How do you prefer to write the inner thoughts of a character ?

"Character inner thought"

Character inner thought.

*Character inner thought*

Character inner thought she thinks.

This is all I can think of, I haven't really thought about it before so I don't know which way I prefer.

 

if audible dialogues r done in parentheses then the "..."
if dialogues r in "....." then *....* might be good....
italics work too....

 

How about using brackets:
(Character inner thoughts)
Double qoute is commonly used for character speaking
Some font combined with italic not readable in pdf
The asterisks will apply bold font effect if markdown supported

 

Use italics.

 

'Fck....i shouldn't have called her a btch. I don't think me and my lil bro aren't gonna survive getting torned apart...' I tend to use this.

 

There’s also:

'Character inner thought'

 

Pretty sure it's kind of an unspoken rule that you use " .... " for conversations and things said out loud even if not a part of a conversation and ' ..... ' for thoughts. Italics, too. You can even use ' italics in between ' if you don't want to take your chances of your readers not realizing some sentence is an inner thought and not one that was said out loud.

By the way, don't fricking use some shit like * ... * or ( ... ). I don't know who thought it was a good idea to use those first but it's kinda dumb when you have so many options that are viable and are accepted globally already...

 

Don't use italics without telling your readers. Absolutely refrain from mixing inner thoughts (Even in italics) in the middle of a sentence. They won't know what's happening and spam you with 1's.

 

I grew up with inner thoughts being the way you did things, because that was how every western author I read did it, if it wasn't an entire page, then they seemed to prefer using: The protagonist mused to herself, ".....paragraph..." but that also implies it could be quietly verbally spoken so its a bit shadier.

 

While thinking to himself, " "

 

"(((*ChArAcTeRs InNeR ThOuGhTs*)))^10" is the appropiate format

 

I like italics, pleasant to the eyes

 

Brackets are my favourite. Quotation marks can get confused with other dialogue.

Italics are typically used for emphasis and/intonation but, I have seen them used for long sections of internal conversations where the opening parentheses '(' is so far away from the closing one ')' that the reader may lose track or forget it's an internal cocversation.

I've never actually seen asterisks being used in a traditional novel- except to add footnotes.

'he thought' is staple but, can become clunky if you use it a lot e.g. in novels with lots of schemes or psychic conversations.

Ultimately, the rules of writing are more flexible than ever, you can use whatever you want - espevespec if you are self-publishing. So long as the reader never gets lost.

That being said, it's a good idea to use 'he said' the first few times you use your chosen indicators to let the reader know that that's how you plan to write internals going forward. Afterwards, if your characters are well written and have distinct ways of speaking or subject matter then it becomes obvious who is who so you don't need to write 'x said to y'

 

I completely disagree. If a rule is unspoken then you can ignore it just as quietly.

So long as a reader can easily understand what you are writing - go for it.

I'd also advise against taking strong stances and using words like 'stupid' when you aren't masterful in, or certain about, a topic.

You contradict yourself by writing fricking - instead of the globally accepted - frickin'. (Though I suppose it's not a big deal because I understood it anyway).

 

yeah normally i would go with the "..." for Talking '...' for thinking.
but in the webnovel world where telepathy and beeing possesed by its own master is normal i would go byond the standart sceme.
there are alot of viable options for this.lets take for example on the the CTK quotationmarks 「」(thinking)『』(telepathy)
or take other parentheses like letters ⟨⟩ [] {}〈〉 《》 「」『』 【】 〔〕〖〗 〘〙 〚〛


the main thing is take a layout that you prefer and stick with it

 

What kind of argument is that? "if it's an unspoken rule, you can ignore it just as quietly". Well, if we go by your logic, we can ignore any rule as long as we don't get caught doing so or something. Doesn't make what you are doing right, though. By the way, I can assure you, there are a lot of unspoken rules that you simply can not ignore in life. Unless you are okay with serious backlash that is. And not using "..." for speech and '...' or italics for thoughts will end up causing you to get quite a lot of negative response from your readers. Trust me, I've been reading stories online(web novels, fanfictions, originals) for a very long time and I've read thousands of works from thousands of authors by now and I've seen more than a few authors who had to stop writing a story because of the negative reviews they got for using different ways to show speech and thoughts. Especially on fanfiction.net I've seen it happen too many times.
Also, you said that it's okay to use whatever you want as long as a reader can easily understand it. You are just proving my point by saying 'easily understand it'. There is a reason %95 of the writers do it the same way. It's because readers have gotten used to it over the years and the moment you change it to something like *...* or (...), there is a high chance you are just triggering about half of your readers. What's the point of that? It's so goddamn easy to use the same thing everyone, including you yourself, have gotten used to over the years, instead of using whatever you like for no reason whatsoever. Your reason can't even be "Because I'm used to it this way" because you are clearly not when almost every story you read in your life was written in the popular way.
As for you trying to prove your point by being a grammar nazi, just because you sat frickin' when speaking doesn't mean you should exclude the 'g' when writing. Writing fricking is even easier than writing frickin' anyway, so what is the point of carrying that to text? The frickin'-fricking example isn't even a good way to prove your point anyway, considering the difference between the popularities of both subjects and how many people they affect is not nearly close enough to make that a decent example.

 

Ai-chan uses italics, see below:

He looked at her as one would at a prime piece of meat. A piece of meat forbidden to little brothers such as he. Yet, she could feel the treacherous wetness at the bottom of her being threatening to betray her resistance. As her little brother's constant touch caressed her skin, with slow, sensuous strokes, her body shivered. The tips of the pointy nub on her chest harden, the moistness in her secret garden floods the modest protection her panties afford and her throat makes a primal noise, one that has been heard since the dawn of man.

Despite being the older sister, she could feel her defenses crumble, the small watchtower north of the wet swamp became engorged with activity as the protection net were slowly corrupted by her own desires. She knew his attack would come. She prepared for it, even made all kinds of defenses for herself, just so that her fortress wouldn't fall again, like all the other times it did. Despite her strong will, she was no match for her little brother's spear of strength and lust. With just one determined thrust, her walls crumbled, her fighters scattered, her castle destroyed and she surrendered to the might of the enemy who was once an ally.

Ah, I wish I had worn something sexier, she thought as she surrendered her whole body to his thrust, to his caresses and to his proclaimations of love and desire.

Today, the enemies shall again become allies in a mad dance of lust.

 

A damn good argument.

1. An unspoken rule is, by definition, one that is not written or spoken. It is more akin to a cultural norm than an enforceable rule. In novels, this could be the length of a book, the 3 act structure, the subject matter, the sexuality of the characters, the punctuation etc.

To say that every book should be written like every other book that has been written is a regressive idea that would prevent any innovation in the field of artistic writing. It's boring and untrue. Your argument is that the average or common thing is a good thing because it is average and common. That isn't an objective argument.
A thing being the norm doesn't make it good or bad. Conventions have been proven wrong time and time again. A good example is words themselves. It isn't conventional to make up new words (with the exception of proper nouns i.e., names and such) however many great authors make up words. Shakespeare made up words. Swagger, manager, arch-enemy, addiction, alligator etc Richard Dawkins invented 'meme' Dr. Suess invented 'nerd'.
Some unspoken rules are derived from common sense; many aren't.
I'd assume that making up words is an unspoken rule in most novels because readers could get confused but, if your writing clearly conveys it's meaning - go for it. It could be fresh and exciting. A competent author can defy that convention and popularise their own way of doing things. Because of them, we have many new words

There are unspoken rules about book length and structure but, all that goes out of the window if a book is good. Writing within convention might make your book more acceptable to publishers but, it doesn't affect how readers receive it or if it's a good or bad book. Harry Potter was, on average, longer than most children's and YA novels at the time but, it was interesting enough to keep readers engaged. It is also longer than a Trilogy which wasn't unique but, certainly wasn't the norm at the time.

How you chose to differentiate dialogue is a stylistic choice and you can defy conventions if you want to.

2. The fact that we're having this discussion about following unspoken rules on a web novel platform is ironic. I suspect that that fact is missed on you. Do you think web novels follow the so-called unspoken rules of novels? They are far longer, usually full of grammatical errors, and often publish before the entire novel is complete. But, it works...sometimes.

3. No, I won't "trust you". I think you're talking bs. You say you've read thousands of works by thousands of authors. 'Thousands' plural as in 2000 or more web novels by over 2000 writers.

Now...I read 30 - 40 traditional novels a year which is 2-3 times the commonly cited average. The only reason I can read that many is because: I work from home, I have passive income, and reading is a big part of my businesses. Many web novels are far longer than the traditional novels I read (that are 60-200k words). At my pace (2- 3 times the norm) it would take me 50 years to read 2000 conventional novels. Even if I read 1 novel a day ie., that was all I did all day every day, it would take me over 5 years to read 2000 average traditional novels...most web novels that I've read are far longer than traditional novels and you're claiming to have read thousands of them?

It's possible if that's all you've been doing all day, every day for over a decade - but, I don't buy it. Not just because of the figures - I don't think that such an avid reader wouldn't have come across examples of successful novels that use unconventional punctuation in thousands of books by thousands of authors.

4. I have read a few review forums/comment sections and while I've seen many complaints about plot, redundant translations, and ex-machinas - I don't recall anyone complaining about unconventional punctuation as a reason to drop a series. If this issue is as prevalent as you claim. Can you provide just 3 examples of 3 different writers who've had to stop their work primarily because of how they punctuate their internal conversations? Providing examples can be a pain but, your claim is that the authors had to stop writing because of this specific issue. If that's the case, it should be an easy task to find some. If you can - I'll admit that it is far more prevalent an issue than I had thought. (note that 3 examples out of 2000 is only 0.15% btw.)

5. The only objective argument you've raised is that readers could get lost and/or find it hard to adjust if you use elipses or brackets as punctuation for internals.

If I wrote [this guy is full of it] he thought. Then wrote [I hope he's not one of those aggro keyboard warriors].

I that think your average reader would know that the latter is also internal monologue. If a reader can get used to made up names, places, insults, and even languages (Klingon) then I find it unlikely that your average reader would find this [ ] instead of this ' ' a challenge.

6. Did you know that 95% of people who quote statics just pull them out of their ass 99% of the time? (you can keep that line). Where is that figure from? Where are your stats and research? Saying statistics with no reference doesn't make you smart. It makes you someone who is not smart trying very hard to sound smart. It doesn't work. Stop it.

7. It's ironic that you call me a grammar Nazi when you are the one bothered by someone not following your precious unwritten rules. Heil!
...Though to be accurate the original post is about punctuation, not grammar. I'd expect such a voracious reader to know that.
And the mark I'm usin' isn't grammar either - I think it falls within accents which aren't within 'grammar'. A google search leads me to think might be diacritics but, I'm not sure.

And yes, many great authors - use that style to indicate accents and speech patterns in their writing.

- Son of a bitch - sonovabitch - som'bitch.

Each gives you a different enunciation. It's also useful and common device to avoid lengthy writing e.g.

"son of a bitch!" she yelled. She screamed it, all in one word, in a typical southern fashion. Or "suthern' talk" as she'd call it.

Unless you describe it like this or some similar way, your readers will have to guess how it's said. Most will just taki it as son.of.a.bitch.
Som'bitch is more concise but, conveys the same information. Your reader can hear the accent and your average American can tell it's from the south. Context will do the rest for other readers. You can use any style of 'sombitch' so long as it accurately portrays what you want it to portray. It's art, not academics.

This isn't high school. The training wheels are off. In big boy novel writing, I argue that when writing any dialogue, particularly for someone drunk, young, retarded, foreign etc, it is more descriptive to write out the broken English they use rather than writing fluent prose and add 'they said brokenly'. It depends on what you are trying to achieve and art conveys meaning and the artist view of a particular subject

8. The purpose of art isn't to do something the way everyone else does it. Neither is it to be an educational text nor a lexicon nor a grammar guide. It's to express the artistic views of the writer. If we were discussing a scientific journal, a newspaper, or a screenplay then that would be different. Academic and scholarly fields need to convey factual information in particular ways. They have specific punctuation and conventions (all of which are spoken and written - not unspoken) because they are important to the rigours of that discipline. Art conveys meaning and there are multiple ways to do that.

A novel has different standards. Is the theme clear? are the characters interesting? does the plot make sense? is the world developed? does the structure flow smoothly? is it entertaining? is it original? is it ingenious?

All of these and more are factors which make a novel a 'good' or 'bad'. So long as these things are done well - the novel is good. So saying "it's against the rules" or "most people don't do that" is a poor argument for any work of art. "It's easier to write fricking" is the weakest argument I've seen in a while. The main vein of your argument is 'follow unspoken rules' but, you yourself write what's easiest for you (while accusing me of doing the same without evidence) however, you're against others doing what's easiest for them? You're a hypocrite.

9. I've seen internal dialogues being written in any number of ways. Sometimes multiple ways by the same author (see Stephen Brust's - Vlad Taltos Series- it's buttclenchinly good). Irc, at different points through the (15 book) series Brust uses multiple styles of punctuating inernals to convey different meanings. As indented text, particularly good for showing opposition to an idea or to give the impression of people talking from different positions.

"Do it man!"
___________________Why does she always shout? How is she's always wrong?
"I'd rather not eat the baby Yessica"
Note: this isn't text from the book just an example.

I've also seen internal dialogues being indicated by a different font which helped give the reader the impression that a person's internal dialogue was very different to what they showed on the surface. Useful in describing someone 2 faced, acting, plotting, or scheming.

I've seen authors use smaller font size so would you if you really read all those novels. To indicate a small annoying voice in their heads.


So, all in all, I think you're full of it. You've exaggerated your knowledge of the subject. You've made baseless accusations against me. You've made up stats and presumed public opinions. You've made one objective argument and, though I disagree with your reasoning, I will agree that there may be drawbacks whenever doing something different from the norm and a writer should be aware of that.

Even if you disagree with everything I've written - check out Vlad Taltos. It's better than any webnovel. You're welcome.