1st Person Narrative

[Antfarmer77]

I popped in to ask this question and scheherazade_79 posted a writing challenge on this very topic! * cue Twilight Zone theme music*
When writing a first person narrative what is the criteria for quotation marks?
Every paragraph in quotes?

 

[rgraham666]

I popped in to ask this question and scheherazade_79 posted a writing challenge on this very topic! * cue Twilight Zone theme music*
When writing a first person narrative what is the criteria for quotation marks?
Every paragraph in quotes?

In my first person narratives I use quotes if a person is speaking out loud.

I also use quotes for internal dialogue, thoughts the person is having, but italicise those as well.

Try my latest short piece of smut for an example. (Plug, plug. )

 

[Antfarmer77]

In my first person narratives I use quotes if a person is speaking out loud.

I also use quotes for internal dialogue, thoughts the person is having, but italicise those as well.

Try my latest short piece of smut for an example. (Plug, plug. )

Aha..thanks for the tip RG

 

[Aurora Black]

I use quotes for words spoken aloud, and just italics for inner dialogue.

ETA: But when I write in 1st person, the story represents the character's thoughts anyway, so I rarely use italics for that. I use inner dialogue mostly for 3rd person stories.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

"This is me speaking to other people," and, 'this is me speaking to myself.' Not very much distinction for that part, but that's what I use. The narrative doesn't need any quotes. The way I am talking right now is a narrative of sorts, and yet has no quotes on either end of it.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Nicely demonstrated, GoatPig!

 

[3113]

First person narrative:
[start]

I was typing on my laptop, posting messages in the AH section when I got a question about first person narratives. I was familiar with first person, very familiar. I'd done about three stories in the first person and knew how to play that game.

"I know first person," I said, wondering, even as I mentioned it, hasn't this person read any Raymond Chandler?

I considered recommending they give that author a look, seeing as he is known for his first person narration.

"Get off the internet!" my husband complained. He'd been trying to get me off the computer and out the door for a good fifteen minutes.

[/End]

Does that help?

 

[Guest]

I've never really received a straight answer on this, but what is the correct way to indicate internal dialog aka thoughts? And I mean a few words, a line or two, NOT a whole paragraph or a page. I know how it is done on Lit with italicizing or single quotes, but how is it really done in mainstream fiction?

 

[3113]

I've never really received a straight answer on this, but what is the correct way to indicate internal dialog aka thoughts? And I mean a few words, a line or two, NOT a whole paragraph or a page. I know how it is done on Lit with italicizing or single quotes, but how is it really done in mainstream fiction?

In mainstream fiction, either NOTHING is done:

I wonder how it's done in mainstream fiction, I thought

Or italics:

I wonder how it's done in mainstream fiction, I thought.

There's no set rule. It's up to the author and editor.

 

[Guest]

In mainstream fiction, either NOTHING is done:

I wonder how it's done in mainstream fiction, I thought

Or italics:

I wonder how it's done in mainstream fiction, I thought.

There's no set rule. It's up to the author and editor.

Ok. I'll consider my question about internal dialog finally answered.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Ok. I'll consider my question about internal dialog finally answered.

sometimes it gets more complicated than that- one of my characters has real dialogues with himself- in two voices.

Tracy, listening to the soft clatter of the dinnerware and muted, incomprehensible, conversation, faced his own fears. -You gotta watch what you ask for, boy. Stella doesn't stop to bargain.- Ain't that the truth. Sweat cooled on his arms, suddenly.

He had half a mind to claim safeword, get out of this. And all these strangers watching, too- how many? he wondered. He wished he could get a drink. If Stella trusted him enough to do something like this, he would just have to prove his worth.

-You shoot your big mouth off, you get just what you ask for- the inner voice told him. I know, I know. What a gift. I can give too, Stella, I'll prove it to you.

That's the way I did it, when I submitted it to lit. One part of his thoughts-
Ain't that the truth
is un-italicised. I think it reads okay, but that might just be because I know. And then I sort of chickened out in the second bit of dialogue, and italicised both halves.

But I wonder if there's another typographical way?

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Using italics to indicate thought tends to be fairly common in sci/fi - fantasy, but occurs much less often in other genres. If in doubt, use italics since they are a WHOLE lot easier to delete than add.

However, do not, under punishment of spending a year on the General Board, use quotation marks to indicate thoughts. As their name implies, quotation marks indicate spoken words. If they are also used for thoughts, how is the poor reader to know which is what?

There are some vaiations between the US and UK on the use of quotation marks. In the US, the single quotation mark ( ' ) indicates a quote within a quote. Using it for something else can confuse readers.

That said, it is more important to be consistent than it is to have a manuscript Strunk and White or the Chicago Manual of Style folks would laud for being "right."

Rumple Foreskin

 

[rgraham666]

Using italics to indicate thought tends to be fairly common in sci/fi - fantasy, but occurs much less often in other genres. If in doubt, use italics since they are a WHOLE lot easier to delete than add.

However, do not, under punishment of spending a year on the General Board, use quotation marks to indicate thoughts. As their name implies, quotation marks indicate spoken words. If they are also used for thoughts, how is the poor reader to know which is what?

There are some vaiations between the US and UK on the use of quotation marks. In the US, the single quotation mark ( ' ) indicates a quote within a quote. Using it for something else can confuse readers.

That said, it is more important to be consistent than it is to have a manuscript Strunk and White or the Chicago Manual of Style folks would laud for being "right."

Rumple Foreskin

Been nice knowing you. I'll be back in a year.

 

[SesameStreet]

I've never really received a straight answer on this, but what is the correct way to indicate internal dialog aka thoughts? And I mean a few words, a line or two, NOT a whole paragraph or a page. I know how it is done on Lit with italicizing or single quotes, but how is it really done in mainstream fiction?

Most of the time it is done with italics.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Been nice knowing you. I'll be back in a year.

Oh, my poor, mis-guided, italicized friend. I'll keep praying that someday you'll find your way onto the narrow path of correct usage.

The Right Rev. Rumple Foreskin http://bestsmileys.com/religous/1.gif

 

[NoJo]

I use italics for inner monolgue in first person narrative, most definitely without the unnecessary "I thought", or (worse still) the nonsensical "I thought to myself" appended.

 

[nyte_byrd]

I use quotes for words spoken aloud, and just italics for inner dialogue.

Ok this is probably a dumb question, but how do you indicate where in your story you need the italics if there's a lot of them? I saw the box for notes on the submission form (for saying where you need special formatting), but it seems like that may get a bit cumbersome for the site owners if a story has a lot of italicized sections in it. What would you do then, just write "all of these sentences need italics" and then start listing them?

 

[3113]

Ok this is probably a dumb question, but how do you indicate where in your story you need the italics if there's a lot of them? I saw the box for notes on the submission form (for saying where you need special formatting), but it seems like that may get a bit cumbersome for the site owners if a story has a lot of italicized sections in it. What would you do then, just write "all of these sentences need italics" and then start listing them?

If it's an online site, then you might be able to indicate it as on this site with the <i>This little "i" and slash i </i> bracketed with the arrows. That on an online site will usually put anything between the two in italics. And it actually SAVES the site owners time. It's already formatted for them, as it were.

If you are unable to do that, you can underline the parts that need to be italicized. This works for printed material where it's going to the printer. But it makes for more work if it's an online site. And you may end up with stuff underlined rather than italicized. I'd follow whatever rules they've put up.

 

[Aurora Black]

Or you could just submit your story as a .doc or .rtf file so you don't have to deal with all the encoding. Just type the italics or bold or whatever the way you want them to appear in the story, and then send it in. This way generally takes a couple of days longer than the normal, form type of submission, but it's worth it in my case.

I'm talking about submitting stories to Lit. I don't know about other places.

ETA: If you choose to go this route ( .doc / .rtf ), you have to remember that the story has to be double-spaced between paragraphs. Otherwise, they'll run together.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I enclose direct quotes in quotation marks, of course, but when it comes to thoughts, it depends on how the thought is stated.

"Well," I asked myself. "What do I do now?" As opposed to: I asked myself what I should do next.

"Did you ask where he was going?"

"I did. I asked him 'where you going?' and he said 'none of your business' and kept going."

 

[Alex De Kok]

Bold and italic formatting

No! You read my 'How-To' on the subject, which you will find here!

Jehosophat! Why did I bother writing the f***ing thing?!

Alex

 

[NoJo]

No! You read my 'How-To' on the subject, which you will find here!

Jehosophat! Why did I bother writing the f***ing thing?!

Alex

Alex, I think "Jeh****hat" is actually a worse profanity than "fucking"