Twin Talking Problem

[RubyRoo]

Big problem...2 of my characters (twins) can send messages to each other without talking. I'm not sure how to explain this with out going 'they could speak to each other through their heads' or about how to determine whether they are speaking aloud or in their heads...italics perhaps? Please help!

[Julie Worth]

I had a similar situation, where a mad inventor began hearing the voice of his muse. I used quotes and italics, and readers didn’t have any problem with it. Another advantage—I was able to dispense with tags altogether.

[Celia Cyanide]

First of all, I would use italics, to indicate that these words are not spoken aloud, but are not part of the narrative. Every time I see quotation marks, I assume dialog, and if the words were directed toward another person, it would sound even more like that.

Secondly, the first time you see the twins doing it, can you describe what it is they are doing? Maybe they use a certain word for this, a word which would be their own.

Jo ed to Andrew, [i]Don't worry. They will never find out. It's only for you and I.

I'm sure you can come up with a better verb than I could. or:

Jo told Andrew, Don't worry. They will never find out. It's only for you and I. Andrew knew she was right, because she said in to him in that way that no one else could hear. He never noticed it when he was a child, because it sounded the same, either way. But when he got bigger, he realized that their mother could not hear what they said when they spoke without moving their lips.

Obviously, you know more about your characters that I do. This is just an idea. If you describe it something like this, it will not only show what they are doing, but show how it feels from their perspective. They might not describe it the same way you would, if you can't do it. How does it feel to them? Did they try to speak this way to everyone, and then notice that no one else could hear? Or did they always know, instinctively, that this special way of talking was only for each other? How did they discover it? Did one of them think something, and then realize that the other one replying to their thought?

[Julie Worth]

First of all, I would use italics, to indicate that these words are not spoken aloud, but are not part of the narrative. Every time I see quotation marks, I assume dialog, and if the words were directed toward another person, it would sound even more like that.



If you just use italics, you can’t use that for the POV character’s thoughts, and there’s likely to be confusion when you use italics for any other reason.

[loquax]

But if the POV character wasn't one of the girls, you wouldn't be hearing their thoughts anyway.

Unless the POV is omniscient. In which case I think italics would be good for everyone's private thoughts, as long as it's clearly defined who is who. Then you may be able to have some freaky scene where the reader thinks the twins are sitting quietly, thinking about stuff (because that's what they've come to know italics as in your book so far), when all of a sudden the thoughts start bouncing off one another, eventually becoming a full blown conversation.

To differentiate between private thoughts and stressed words, I would probably place the private thoughts in a paragraph of their own.

[edit - Julie, that was your 666th post.......http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif]

[Torgo]

I think there's a pretty good alternative to italics - the way the French do speech, AFAIK. You start a line of speech with an em dash rather than using quotes.

I'm not sure how you're going to get around the problem of letting the reader know how these dialogues are happening without actually spelling it out, though.

[Julie Worth]

[edit - Julie, that was your 666th post.......http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif]





Posting to get rid of the 666. Odd though. I was at the point in my ms where I create the antichrist.

[TheIT]

In the Disney Witch Mountain movies the brother and sister main characters could speak telepathically to each other. Weren't those based on books? You might get some ideas on format from them.

[jules]

I think there's a pretty good alternative to italics - the way the French do speech, AFAIK. You start a line of speech with an em dash rather than using quotes.

I think the French normally quote dialogue <<comme ça>>, although I have seen the em dash thing too. Come to think of it <<thinking at somebody>> isn't a bad idea either.

I'm not sure how you're going to get around the problem of letting the reader know how these dialogues are happening without actually spelling it out, though.

Show it.


"You two stay there while I sort this out," the policeman said.

Bob nodded. <<You go round the other side while I keep him talking,>> he sent. "All right. Do you think anybody might have been hurt?" he asked.

The policeman shook his head, apparently not noticing that Clive had begun creaping around the side of the car. "No, it doesn't look that serious."


Anybody paying attention can easily work out what's going on here.

[Torgo]

Yep, but you're still having to use a relatively exotic verb there to carry the speech. As a reader, I still don't quite know what is going on.

I'd just bite the bullet and explain their ability earlier.

[Honey Nut Loop]

in The wind Singer by William Nicholson he used italics to indicate the twins thinking to each other and occasionally tags of such and such thought to such and such.

[Aconite]

Telepathic speech is a common convention in F and SF. (Mercedes Lackey uses a lot of it, frex.) The best indicator I've seen is:
::blah blah blah blah::

I don't see a need to make up a special term for what they're doing. If I read a line like,
Bill thought to her, ::Why wait?::
I'm going to figure out what's going on. I don't need to be walked thorough it.

[Torgo]

And Dan Simmons used various interesting indicators for different kinds of speech in Hyperion.

[Celia Cyanide]

I don't see a need to make up a special term for what they're doing. If I read a line like,
Bill thought to her, ::Why wait?::
I'm going to figure out what's going on. I don't need to be walked thorough it.

Agreed, I think people will understand that. I just thought it might work to make up a new word, because the twins might not say to themselves, "I'm thinking to him/her."

If we are aware of what they are "thinking to" each other, we seem to be pretty far inside their heads. So I thought it might help to use a word they would prefer to use. Telepaths might not consider their method of communication to be the same as "thinking."

[Aconite]

[QUOTE=Celia Cyanide because the twins might not say to themselves, "I'm thinking to him/her." [/quote]
Hmm. I doubt anyone thinks, "I'm speaking to her" when they're doing that, either, though. And since I read a lot of F and SF, I'm always wary when an author starts inventing words--or capitalizing them--to indicate Something Special, because it's such a painful cliche. Not that it can't be done well, just that it's often done badly.

(The funniest commentary on that kind of thing I ever heard was on MST 3000:
Line from film: "You didn't...Call anyone, did you?"
Line from audience: "Or...Mail anything?")

[RubyRoo]

Thanks you guys! Italics and funny name it is then! :D

[Sage]

Big problem...2 of my characters (twins) can send messages to each other without talking. I'm not sure how to explain this with out going 'they could speak to each other through their heads' or about how to determine whether they are speaking aloud or in their heads...italics perhaps? Please help!

Wow, this is something that I know absolutely - psychically connected twins!

This is how I do it. When they are just thinking to themselves (Neko to Neko, for example), I put the thoughts in asterisks instead of quotations.

*I wish I thought of that* Neko thought to herself.

When they are thinking to each other, I do the same thing but italicize the thoughts.

*What did you get for question number one?* Mi-chan asked Neko as they began their tests.
*I can't tell you that! Do your own work!*

I describe their connection many ways. Usually when just referencing the connection, I say they're "psychically linked," or they share a "psychic connection." But I'll also say they're "linked" or "connected." I might say that one is concentrating on sending a message to the other, or that she thought something to the other. If it's less direct, like one is feeling the other one's pain, I'll just say what she felt. Oh, and if one is feeling something very strongly, I might say she's "broadcasting her thoughts" to the other (& any other psychics around).

After you introduce the abilities, it's easier. Your audience will automatically recognize the way you reference it, & you can shorthand your description of it unless the description is particularly important at that point.

[AncientEagle]

Jo ed to Andrew, [i]Don't worry. They will never find out. It's only for you and I.

But if the twins' parents are English majors, Jo will have to say, It's only for you and me.

[Mistook]

Big problem...2 of my characters (twins) can send messages to each other without talking. I'm not sure how to explain this with out going 'they could speak to each other through their heads' or about how to determine whether they are speaking aloud or in their heads...italics perhaps? Please help!


The term for this would be: Telepathy.



And just for the heck of it... a rundown of other paranormal abilities...

Empathy: ability to sense other's emotions.

Clairvoyance: ability to see visions of things happening in distant places.

Clairaudience: Same as clairvoyance but with hearing.

Telekinesis: ability to move physical objects with thought.

Precognition: ability to see the future.

Astral Projection: ability to leave one's body (dream walking).

Levitation: Ability to defy gravity.


Okay, that's all I can think of at the moment. Maybe somebody else can think of more. :)

[reph]

*I wish I thought of that* Neko thought to herself.
You don't normally write "thought to herself," do you, when only the usual kind of thinking is involved, rather than the fictional kind discussed here in which one can think to someone else?

[Sage]

You don't normally write "thought to herself," do you, when only the usual kind of thinking is involved, rather than the fictional kind discussed here in which one can think to someone else?

No, I was just doing it to be clear in the example.

[My-Immortal]

The term for this would be: Telepathy.



And just for the heck of it... a rundown of other paranormal abilities...

Empathy: ability to sense other's emotions.

Clairvoyance: ability to see visions of things happening in distant places.

Clairaudience: Same as clairvoyance but with hearing.

Telekinesis: ability to move physical objects with thought.

Precognition: ability to see the future.

Astral Projection: ability to leave one's body (dream walking).

Levitation: Ability to defy gravity.


Okay, that's all I can think of at the moment. Maybe somebody else can think of more. :)

Procrastination: ability to waste one's time doing one inane activity instead of another

Clairsavor: ability to taste what's on someone else's plate

Postcognition: ability to state the obvious about the past

Antilevitation: the ability to defy the ability to defy gravity

:)

[Sage]

Procrastination: ability to waste one's time doing one inane activity instead of another

Clairsavor: ability to taste what's on someone else's plate

Postcognition: ability to state the obvious about the past

Antilevitation: the ability to defy the ability to defy gravity

:)

Technically postcognition is the ability to see what happened in the past (the same way one would see the future in precognition). This would be a helpful ability if, say, you were in law inforcement & you could see the crime happen even though you weren't there.

[My-Immortal]

Technically postcognition is the ability to see what happened in the past (the same way one would see the future in precognition). This would be a helpful ability if, say, you were in law inforcement & you could see the crime happen even though you weren't there.

Ahhhh man, I was just playing around....but I guess I learned something new tonight. So...if I had postcognition I'd be able to know that postcognition actually means something else and not write the earlier post. Would that be like postpostcognition then....? :)

[KimJo]

Postcognition is often called Retrocognition.

There's also psychometry: the ability to gain information about someone by touching something they've touched. Sometimes also the ability to gain information about an object by touching it.

My constant WIP is a YA series about a group of teenagers with psychic abilities who fight against the forces of darkness. Two of my MCs are able to communicate telepathically. I usually put their words in italics and use standard dialogue tags.

For example:

Blake started to say something but I told him, Cool it. We'll figure out what's going on.
She makes me feel weird, he replied. Uncomfortable.

[Celia Cyanide]

You don't normally write "thought to herself," do you, when only the usual kind of thinking is involved, rather than the fictional kind discussed here in which one can think to someone else?

Not usually. But here we have this:

*I wish I thought of that* Neko thought.

If I were going to use, "to herself," it would be for:

*You should have thought of that!* Neko thought to herself.

It might not matter much, but that thought, even though unspoken, could be perceived as being directed to someone else, even without psychic abilities.