Thought tabs

DamaNegra said:

Is it wise to use different tought tabs within one same novel even if I clearly mark them as thought? For example:

---

I stood at the mouth of the hole and took a deep breath. I must be going nuts, I thought. Gathering all my courage, I jumped down.

Cold wind lashed at my face as I fell, and the rocks clawed at my arms and feet. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel.

"I'm going to die," I thought, realizing the horrible truth.

---

Is this advisable?

Click to expand...

These are called tags, not tabs. The standard practice is to show thoughts with italics without a tag, or without italics and with a tag. Never use quotes for thoughts.

If it's clear that the person is thinking, you can dispense with the italics and the tag.

DamaNegra said:

Is it wise to use different tought tabs within one same novel even if I clearly mark them as thought? For example:

---

I stood at the mouth of the hole and took a deep breath. I must be going nuts, I thought. Gathering all my courage, I jumped down.

Cold wind lashed at my face as I fell, and the rocks clawed at my arms and feet. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel.

"I'm going to die," I thought, realizing the horrible truth.

---

Is this advisable?

Click to expand...

I believe quote marks should be reserved for spoken words, not thoughts. You need consistency, and you need to avoid confusing the reader.

I either use italics for direct thought, and then it's in first person: I must be nuts, or just say, he thought he must be nuts for....


I never use " for thoughts. I thought they were meant strictly for verbal speech. But I could be wrong. Who said I was perfect.

I would do it like this:


I stood at the mouth of the hole and took a deep breath. I must be going nuts. Gathering all my courage, I jumped down.

Cold wind lashed at my face as I fell while rocks clawed my bare arms and feet. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel and realized the horrible truth.

I'm going to die.


Hope that helps!

I like Cathy's version. That's the way I would do it myself.

In first person, I don't feel you need any designation for thoughts. You're clearly narrating from a restrictive pov, so anything the reader is reading is essentially his thoughts. Just keep everything in the same tense and you're good to go.

Cat Scratch said:

In first person, I don't feel you need any designation for thoughts. You're clearly narrating from a restrictive pov, so anything the reader is reading is essentially his thoughts. Just keep everything in the same tense and you're good to go.

Click to expand...

Not really. Even in first person, narrative and thoughts are very different things, and the POV is no more restrictive than third person limited, which is the POV used in most novels. In both forms, someone is telling the story orally, and that someone is limited to what the POV character knows, thinks, experiences, sees, hears, feels, tastes, or smells. The only difference is in who is telling the the story. In first person, the POV character is telling the story, and telling it orally, which means his thoughts are a completely different thing. In third person limited, an unseen narrator is telling the story, but the narrative is still restricted to the POV character, and is still telling teh story orally.

The important thing is to know when a thought is important enough to be set off, and when it should be included in narrative. In first person, you'd write a not terribly important thought something like: I thought it seemed odd that Malcolm avoided Wendi all evening. In third person limited you would write: He thought it seemed odd that Malcolm avoided Wendi all evening.

It's only when you get to third person omniscient that you lose the POV restrictions.

But first person narrative is not in any way the POV character's thoughts, and is no more restrictive than third person limited.