Thought marks?

It's terrible, I thought, but instead I said 'I like it.' - That's the one I would personally use, it's neater, but I'm sure you'll get different opinions on this


Elodie

I don't use any quotation marks at all. Some authors italicize, and some use nothing, from what I've seen.

There are three versions I've seen in print:

No markings:

It's terrible, I thought.

Italics:

It's terrible, I thought.

Quotation marks:

"It's terrible," I thought.

Your choice. I personally use italics, as well, though I might use quotationmarks if I were writing faerie tales or something. (But I've seen quotation marks in regular prose, too. I think Katherine Mansfield.)

I italicize. I usually only put "X thought" once or twice, to show the reader that anytime they see these sort of italics, it means someone is thinking. I don't think it is necessary to continually re-define your standardized punctuation or style. In the same way that attributions need only be used when it is clear that the reader might get lost. In first person, I would totally eliminate "thought" attributions because-- well-- it's the MC thinking-- Its all from his/her POV, so it's kind of obvious.

FashionQueen said:

I have spotted a lot of authors do that, but, the reason I don't use italics is because words that are stressed are in italics and it's whether some readers (people like me) could get confused (again, like me).

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If that's what's bothering you, I'd suggest quotation marks, since "no marking" then looks the same as all the other text.

Seriously, it's a matter of personal style, and ties in with how long stretches of direct thought are, what kind of situations contain direct thought, whether you use direct thought exclusively or insterspersed with indirect thought (he thought that X) etc.

It's always individual, anyway. Chances are, the way you do it intuitively fits best with your style, anyway.

I've got to admit, any italicised words, besides one or two here and there for emphasis, get bypassed by me in paperback novels, I just can't read them. Too many italics would make me put the book down and not pick it up again.

Pick something. Be consistent throughout the book.

That's it.

It's first person. Isn't EVERYTHING a thought?

So I would have written it:

"So, what do you think?" He said.

I thought it was terrible, but I said, "I like it."

Yep, I agree with you Shadow Ferret, it's plain to see who's thinking what.

Italics. It separates the thoughts from dialouge..

Americans need to remember that in England quotes are reversed, 'I wish I had said that,' he said. 'John told me his pater had "gone bonkers" when he learned John was gay.'
Is that right? I don't like using quotes for thoughts. I prefer nothing, unless it's really unclear that it's a thought. I like a clean flow of words without too many tools in the works. From my 3rd effort: "Williston Jecker stood at his sink studying the knife in his hand. Do you have to do both wrists, or is one enough? Maybe pills would be better. He didn't have any pills. On TV, people did it in the bathtub, so the blood would keep flowing. That seemed way too yucky. But was splattering blood all over the kitchen any less yucky? Somebody would have to clean it up. Why should he care? He'd be dead. With his luck it wouldn't work and it would be Willy cleaning up the mess.

Joycecwilliams said:

Italics. It separates the thoughts from dialouge..

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I'll 2nd this. (I think that's the best way to do it)

That's the way I've always done it too, Oberon, it looks neat and tidy and it's easy to see the difference between a thought and dialogue.
And yes, that's the way us Brits use quotation marks etc.

Oberon said:

Americans need to remember that in England quotes are reversed, 'I wish I had said that,' he said. 'John told me his pater had "gone bonkers" when he learned John was gay.'
Is that right? I don't like using quotes for thoughts. I prefer nothing, unless it's really unclear that it's a thought. I like a clean flow of words without too many tools in the works. From my 3rd effort: "Williston Jecker stood at his sink studying the knife in his hand. Do you have to do both wrists, or is one enough? Maybe pills would be better. He didn't have any pills. On TV, people did it in the bathtub, so the blood would keep flowing. That seemed way too yucky. But was splattering blood all over the kitchen any less yucky? Somebody would have to clean it up. Why should he care? He'd be dead. With his luck it wouldn't work and it would be Willy cleaning up the mess.

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I don't use quotation marks or italics. I figure that the reader will be able to realize the POV is thinking to themselves.
I save italics for when I want to stress a word. And quotation marks for speech.
But do it anyway you prefer. You'll notice in published books that there is a lot of variety on this.

I wouldn't even use "I thought." It's first person. No need to filter thoughts.


It's terrible. Instead I said, "I like it."

In my stories I tend to favor italics most of the time, but I think it depends on your style of writing, how involved the thought is, and the effect you are trying to get across. For example, if the thought is John's sudden revelation that his best friend Dexter has been the murderer all along:

...John recognized the glove, knowing it could belong only to the murderer.

Dexter.

or

...I knew the murderer had worn this glove. And now that I recognized it, I suddenly realized who the murderer was.
My best friend.
Dexter.


Compare this to:

...John recognized the glove, knowing it could belong only to the murderer.

"Dexter," he thought.

or

...I knew the murderer had worn this glove. And now that I recognized it, I suddenly realized who the murderer was.
"My best friend," I thought.
"Dexter."

Or without italics:

...John recognized the glove, knowing it could belong only to the murderer.

-Dexter.

or

...I knew the murderer had worn this glove. And now that I recognized it, I suddenly realized who the murderer was.
-My best friend.
-Dexter.

Which style feels / reads more like a thought?

I agree that too many italics makes it difficult to read on. Any necessary elaboration of thoughts, as in telling a back story, a flashback, can be handled differently, by introducing the flashback as a thought (in italics, if preferred), or as a separate chapter or section. It's really your call.

Which sounds more like thinking in these flash back intros?

A gunshot. Breaking glass...

He had dived under the table before realizing that it was not a bullet at all. When he saw the golf ball lying on the floor in front of him, he laughed. He heard the voice of a woman thrashing in the woods, looking for her lost ball...
Ten years ago.

"A gunshot," he thought, "Breaking glass."
He had dived under the table before realizing that it was not a bullet at all. When he saw the golf ball lying on the floor in front of him, he laughed. He heard the voice of a woman thrashing in the woods, looking for her lost ball...
"Ten years ago," he thought.

Both of the above will work fine. One character might be a deep thinker. Another might tend to think out loud, and so the second example would fit better.

Play with different styles and find your own. And of course, take note of what other authors do. Good luck!

US and Britian are different. In US italicized is usually frowned upon for thoughts, and lately I've seen more editors and writers being critical of quotes around thoughts, too. Also, if you're in viewpoint character, you can probably drop even the "he thought" and just let the "it's terrible" stand alone.

I wouldn't worry too much about how you're doing while writing; use whatever method helps your writing flow the easiest in a first draft. Later, when you edit, you can work on these details.

gypsyscarlett said:

I don't use quotation marks or italics. I figure that the reader will be able to realize the POV is thinking to themselves.
I save italics for when I want to stress a word. And quotation marks for speech.
But do it anyway you prefer. You'll notice in published books that there is a lot of variety on this.

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Same here. Maybe it depends on the publisher, and their editors specify a format.

§They're called thoughtation marks, and they look like this,§ thought Hammerklavier.

Dawnstorm said:

There are three versions I've seen in print:

No markings:

It's terrible, I thought.

Italics:

It's terrible, I thought.

Quotation marks:

"It's terrible," I thought.

Your choice. I personally use italics, as well, though I might use quotationmarks if I were writing faerie tales or something. (But I've seen quotation marks in regular prose, too. I think Katherine Mansfield.)

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I use italics, but try to avoid adding "I thought" or "he/she thought" unless it's not quite certain who is doing the thinking or if there's more to the action, such as: This is strange, he thought, grasping the strange stone.

FashionQueen said:

When using first person and the main character is thinking, do you use speech marks, but say 'I though' after? Or what? Different books do it differently, some do

'So, what do you think?' He said.
'It's terrible,' I thought, but instead I said, 'I like it.'

while others do

"So, what do you think?" He said.
'It's terrible,' I thought, but instead I said, "I like it."
or
'So, what do you think?' He said.
It's terrible, I thought, but instead I said 'I like it.'
So which is the proper way? Thanks in advance.

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I would never ever put quotes around a thought. I might use "irony quotes," like the ones I just used there, around a word or term within the thought, but never ever quotes around a sentence that a character thinks. I have used italics on occasion, but not in dialogue--only in a paragraph, to set the thought sentence off from description. Picture, for example, a character in a really bad mood walking around--you describe the scenery the way it looks to him, and then his thoughts and actions: The sky was dismal, pissing with rain. He didn't care. What does it matter--I suck, I'm doomed, I screwed that up completely. He stood at a bus stop and contemplated throwing himself into traffic.

So, italics in a paragraph, but not in dialogue; either way, no quotes ever. It's just confusing otherwise--quotes mean speech. In dialogue, I'd do one of the following:

"So what do you think?"
It's terrible. "I like it," I lied.

"So what do you think?"
That it's terrible. "I like it," I lied.

"So what do you think?"
I thought it was terrible. "I like it," I lied.

What about Third Person limited to one character?

What about Third Person limited to one character?

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I personally would not use italics for any thoughts, first person or third, multiple or limited character viewpoint. Since third person limited character viewpoint is similar to first person, your readers should have no problem knowing whose viewpoint they're inside, and they should know all thoughts have to be from the viewpoint character. Even with multiple viewpoint, your reader still always needs to know whose pov view he's "viewing" from, so the reader still shouldn't need to have any italics, quotes, or "he thought" to know the viewpoint character is thinking.