How to write a character's thoughts

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Mon, 2004-02-09 15:44

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the board and I'm having a problem with a story. Three of the main characters communicate with each other telepathically. I would like to be able to set the telepathic conversations off from the normal ones. There are some scenes in which the three are talking to each other while one of the three is actually speaking to someone else using the mouth.

How would I actually write this text? I found the following online:

"Some writers will set such unspoken language in italics or indent it in order to set it off from other "regular" language. That's probably not a good idea if there is a lot of it because the indents can be confusing and italics can become tiresome to read after a while. The decision will probably depend on the amount of silent speech within the text. Probably the best way to handle silent speech is to find an author whom you like who does a lot of this—Graham Swift in his novel Last Orders, for instance—and copy that author's style. Consistency, of course, is very important." From: http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm

Any thoughts?

Thanks and best regards,
Rashunda

Tue, 2005-06-21 08:11

jim

Italics is used pretty often for personal thoughts, but it would get confusing if you used it for both that and telepathy. Definitely seperate the special dialogue from everything else but identifying tags. I've seen double colons (::) and brackets ([]) used for situations like this before. I've also seen all-capitals used when a thought was sent strongly into someone else's mind. I've also seen words pushed together to express thoughts and emotions (Fearangerwhydotheyattack?). Find what you like, just make sure it stands out. You'll probably find an answer involving special punctuation like /slashes/ and special font.

Mon, 2004-02-09 17:56

stephen_d

What about using different fonts or different text size or even spacing between the prose when this sort of dialouge is in use. There are a lot of Scottish writers who seem to pull this of very well, including Janice Galloway.

Mon, 2004-02-09 18:00

stephen_d

Actually i think the spacing between the prose is the best and it can also stop and make the reader think more and in trying to tell a story based around this subject is maybe what you are wanting the reader to do. eg. Michael walked furiosley through the wind swept rain knowing that in moments he would meet with the others, but where are they he thought then. I am over here by the first cave sheltering in behind the rock. He looked desperatly for the rock trying to shelter from the brittle wind which eloped around his body. i dont know if i am showing this properly. But if you try and get some of JGs work you will see. regards

Mon, 2004-02-09 22:01

Rashunda

Thanks. I'll try to find some of JGs work. Best regards

Thu, 2004-02-12 12:41

rossco_the_second

A book you might like to look at is "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester. Yes, it's science fiction but please don't sneer! Bester's premise is that a large part of the human race has developed telepathic skills - he has some clever ways of demonstrating how different telepathic conversation might be from normal conversation; imagine being able to speak at the speed of thought! It's also a very, very good book, IMHO :-)

Thu, 2004-02-12 22:47

Emma Bryant

See Submarine by Spack which has got some Saturnalian telepathy in it

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