Virgin Author (at the age of 67)

[Trisha8438]

Hi! This is my very first venture into writing, and although I thought I was fairly well versed in grammar, spelling, etc., I have come up against a blank wall.

I know thoughts are indicated by italics -- but how do I set up a conversation with one's self?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Trisha8438

[Andrew Jameson]

Does one really have a conversation with oneself? I mean, *I* don't. I might mull something over in my head (Hmmm...should I have the tuna or the chicken? On the one hand, the tuna's fresher, but on the other, I really like chicken. Hmmm...), but it's not really in the form of a conversation.

Do you really mean a full-blown conversation, with two or more sides, exchanging information and points of view? If so, why? Or do you mean an internal decision-making process?

[sunandshadow]

I agree with Andrew, but if you wanted to be humorous or if your character has multiple personalities or something, you could set it up as an actual conversation if you wanted to. Like in those cartoons where someone has a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other shoulder arguing about what the character ought to do. So you could just use quotation marks and write it as regular dialogue.

Or sometimes a character is represented as having 'the voice of temptation' or 'the voice of conscience' or 'the voice of self-doubt' whisper to them from the back of their mind. In a case like this the voice would be in italics, while the main part of the character might be pacing around talking to themself out loud (using quotation marks).

[Maryn]

There are lots of ways to write thought, and italics isn't the most widely used method. Pick up a novel--whatever's at hand will do--and look at how thought is presented. I just picked up the four nearest the computer, and none of them used italics for thought.

Two were in the first person point of view, and the characters' thoughts were just part of the exposition. Should I have the tuna, or the chicken? On the one hand, the tuna's fresher, but on the other, I really like chicken.No I wondered or other attributes/tags needed, because we're already in the guy's head.

The other two were third person POV, and they handled thought just like dialogue except used no quotation marks.Should he have the tuna, or the chicken? On the one hand, Jake thought, the tuna's fresher, but on the other, he really liked chicken.

If you actually need two selves in thought-dialogue, almost any way you do it that makes that clear should be adequate. If the publishing house has a standard way they do such things, you may be asked to conform, but those worries are a long way off.

Maryn, hoping this is of some help

[Trisha8438]

Thank you, so much. It all helped, but Maryn figured out the conversation I was trying to work with.


If you actually need two selves in thought-dialogue, almost any way you do it that makes that clear should be adequate. If the publishing house has a standard way they do such things, you may be asked to conform, but those worries are a long way off.

My character is actually thinking the entire conversation as two separate entities, the devil-and-angel counterparts, if you will -- while there is another character in the room part of the time, also making comments to the first character to which he also replies. My initial thought with the mental conversation was the one-italics, one-quotes -- but that doesn't really work with the other party involved.

Thanks again. I now have a direction.

Trisha