Quotation Marks for Character's Thinking?

[ErotikWryter]

I am confused as to whether I should place quotation marks in the instance where a charcter is thinking to him/herself, i.e:

Which is Correct:

Bob thought to himself, "I hate my wife's boss."

-OR-

Bob thought to himself, I hate my wife's boss.

The reason why I ask, or am confused is that the character isn't really speaking, which is what quotation marks represent. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. As I am new to this site, I am looking forward to submitting my story.

 

[LadyCibelle]

I am confused as to whether I should place quotation marks in the instance where a charcter is thinking to him/herself, i.e:

Which is Correct:

Bob thought to himself, "I hate my wife's boss."

-OR-

Bob thought to himself, I hate my wife's boss.

The reason why I ask, or am confused is that the character isn't really speaking, which is what quotation marks represent. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. As I am new to this site, I am looking forward to submitting my story.

Hi and welcome to the editor's forum

First of all, if you're indicating inner thoughts, it's pretty redundant to say "to himself". Then it's not necessary to quote your thoughts or if you want to differentiate it from "real" dialogue you can put them into 'single quotes'.

Hope that helps

LadyC.

 

[ErotikWryter]

Thanks for the advice.

So, what you're suggesting is that the sentence should read like this:

Bob thought, 'I hate my wife's boss.'

Again, I appreciate the help.

 

[LadyCibelle]

Thanks for the advice.

So, what you're suggesting is that the sentence should read like this:

Bob thought, 'I hate my wife's boss.'

Again, I appreciate the help.

Yup that's my suggestion...but hey....don't just listen to me....maybe you can wait for other editors to arrive on the scene. They might have another opinion.

 

[brightlyiburn]

You can use "to himself" if you like. It's a personal preference, not a rule, and there are plenty of authors who do it.
If your stories are going to be in text format and you're concerned about the context of thoughts being lost or confused, you can using single apostrophes to frame them, like 'this'.

 

[J.Q. Hack]

I've had the same question myself.

One suggestion to me had been to use italics to indicate a person's thought. However on Literotica the italics don't seem to come through too clearly so I'm not sure if its practical plus reading lines of italics could be difficult and a little cumbersome.

The single quotation marks idea seems pretty solid to me. It would definitely set the character's thoughts off from dialogue. I'd say give Lady Cibelle's suggestion a try and if that doesn't work pick something that does work for you. But, most importantly pick one and be consistent so your readers will understand when a character is thinking or talking.

 

[BlackSnake]

I maybe different, but this is what I do and why.

First, I do not want to jar the reader or interrupt the flow, so I write thought along with the dialog usually surround by a description of the scene. For exampel:

"What in the hell is she talking about?" he thought. He waited until she had finished before raising his hand. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand your point," he said as his eyes drifted downward to her ample boobs.

 

[snooper]

We had a long(ish) thread on this a while ago.

To summarise, there were five serious suggestions.

Bob thought, "I hate my wife's boss."
Bob thought, 'I hate my wife's boss.'
Bob thought, I hate my wife's boss.
Bob thought, I hate my wife's boss.
Bob thought, - I hate my wife's boss. -

I prefer single quotes, which is the most commonly accepted by publishers, but it is your choice.

Italics has the advantage of dispensing with the "He thought" if interspersed in descriptive text.

 

[BlackSnake]

This is my reasoning:

It's a quote not matter if its spoken aloud, mumbled, whispered, or thought it is still a quote. We don't know how it is revealed to us until we read the context. I think it only jars the reader by using anything other than double quote marks.

 

[LadyCibelle]

This is my reasoning:

It's a quote not matter if its spoken aloud, mumbled, whispered, or thought it is still a quote. We don't know how it is revealed to us until we read the context. I think it only jars the reader by using anything other than double quote marks.

I understand your reasoning Snakey but I have to disagree. IMHO single quotes are better to show that it's inner thoughts.

 

[BlackSnake]

I understand your reasoning Snakey but I have to disagree. IMHO single quotes are better to show that it's inner thoughts.

I'd like to argue, but I'm pretty sure that I'm wrong. I, however, disagree the way this piece I'm reading from Edgar Allan Poe is written also. "The Cask of Amontillado"

I'm looking at:
"Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi--"

and

"True," I replied; "the Amontillado."

Where the semi-colon is used. I think it should be a comma not a semi-colon.

 

[ErotikWryter]

As an author who has not been "published" in any venue, due to my own refusal to submit sub-quality writing, I tend to agree with the thought of some distinct punctuation that informs the reader, of any sort of education, that the words that I write are in fact words of thought, created by the character.

If I were to add quotation marks, the reader may have to re-read a portion of the writing to determine whether the character was speaking, or thinking.

If I were to change the font, the reader would have to know or "guesstimate" that the character is thinking.

If I were to write of the character's thoughts with no change of font, or no punctuation whatsoever, again - the reader would have to decide whether it is thought, or spoken.

If I were to add dashes at the start and end of a character's thought, I think that it might be a distraction from the flow of story and reading.

Therefore, though I may not be correct and though I do not hold myself out to be a literary guru of any sort, I prefer the single quotation mark at the start and end of a character's thought process:

Bob thought, 'I hate my wife's boss.'

Nevertheless, as it was explained to me - so long as I, the author, consider and use one rule of my preference throughout the entire storyline, I will have compatibility throughout. And, I can only suppose that the reader will know and realize the differences of MY punctuation as it relates to thought or verbal communication of the characters.

 

[BlackSnake]

Got the facts from upon high.

This is correct:
If you want to show a character thinking words to himself, without actually speaking them aloud, follow the same punctuation and capitalization rules but eliminate the quotation marks:

Jeff thought, This is going to be a long day.

This is going to be a long day, he thought.

Where did they go? she wondered.

This is good. It's not a fix, and it looks good also.

 

[snooper]

Got the facts from upon high. ... This is good. It's not a fix, and it looks good also.

I don't knoiw from which deity you got that, but I don't worship at that shrine. IMHO it looks awful.

 

[BlackSnake]

I don't knoiw from which deity you got that, but I don't worship at that shrine. IMHO it looks awful.

I really believe using alternate font style like italics is bad design.

I look at numerous references, and what I found was it was okay to do any of the previously stated formats. Most of them, however, cited using the normal quotation without the quote marks. That is the inspiring thought that convinced me that I have the correct one.

 

[jacuzzigal]

Got the facts from upon high.

This is correct:
If you want to show a character thinking words to himself, without actually speaking them aloud, follow the same punctuation and capitalization rules but eliminate the quotation marks:

Jeff thought, This is going to be a long day.

This is going to be a long day, he thought.

Where did they go? she wondered.

This is good. It's not a fix, and it looks good also.

Seems like this has become a personal preference issue. I agree with BLackSnake that no quotes are correct. I'm used to reading them that way in books for years, whether or not I like they way they look.

 

[sandmartin]

Ha-ha, just to throw a spanner in the works! I use italics to express deep innermost thoughts, where a character is assessing something; otherwise I don't use any punctuation at all… Clear? As mud, I know!

 

[Weird Harold]

Seems like this has become a personal preference issue. I agree with BLackSnake that no quotes are correct. I'm used to reading them that way in books for years, whether or not I like they way they look.

That depends on whether you're a modernist or traditionalist.

Up to about five or ten years ago, there was only one proper way to punctuate internl dialogue -- Italics.

The most recent versions of Strunk and White's and the Chicago Manual of Style have changed to no special punctuation in the last couple of revisions.

Anything other than Italics or Normal text is an "unsanctioned alternative."

Using double quotes for both thoughts and speech is confusing and should be avoided completely.

My personal preference is the traditionalist use of Italics. It makes it absolutely clear what is "internal dialogue" and what is narrative decription.

I can do this, he thought. -- internal dialogue.

He thought he could do this. -- narrative description.

 

[Guest]

I lean toward Weird Harold's comments.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?p=5901653

 

[Halo_n_horns]

The book I'm in currently, which was written in the past year or so, doesn't use any types of quotations or italics or even dancing nanas to show inner thoughts. It's just, "Blah, blah, blah. I thought to myself." or something else along those lines. I have read books in the past where inner dialog was done in italics, but also look at the case of a book done in a "noir" style where a huge percentage of the story is done as inner dialog, you don't want that to all be in italics or quotations. That would confuse the shit out of the readers.

I was thinking to myself...

 

[Weird Harold]

The book I'm in currently, which was written in the past year or so, doesn't use any types of quotations or italics or even dancing nanas to show inner thoughts. It's just, "Blah, blah, blah. I thought to myself." or something else along those lines. I have read books in the past where inner dialog was done in italics, ...

One point that needs to be made:

Punctuation of internal dialogue is almost entirely dependent on the publisher's choice.

Much of my current reading is published by Baen Books or TOR books. Baen books genrally use Italics, TOR books don't.

When "publishing" online, there are sites that permit (or even encourage) HTML coding of Italics and sites that prefer pure ASCII Text, which doesn't support Italics. Some sites excercise a high degree of editorial control over every aspect of punctuation and formatting, and others rely completely on the Author's choices.

The answer to "how to pinctuate thoughts" depends on where you intend to publish your story: Here at Literotica, the Italics option is the most common but no special puctuation and single quotes have a large following as well.

 

[Seattle Zack]

I've been reading this thread, mainly because it's the exact same argument I'm going through with my publisher.

I prefer the italics, if you establish it correctly, then it's quite effective.

If you try the single quotes, then submit it to a European publisher (*groan*).

They have different rules for everything over there. They even spell "color" wrong. Don't get me started.

--Z

 

[Halo_n_horns]

I've been reading this thread, mainly because it's the exact same argument I'm going through with my publisher.

I prefer the italics, if you establish it correctly, then it's quite effective.

If you try the single quotes, then submit it to a European publisher (*groan*).

They have different rules for everything over there. They even spell "color" wrong. Don't get me started.

--Z

That's exactly what I'm seeing. Some publishers are going to want to do things one way while others will do things another way.

They spell color (colour) correctly. There's a number of other words that get that extra 'u' stuck in there. It's an old-english way of spelling that the US no longer recognizes as being correct. When I was a child in the 70s I was actually told that both spellings were correct, and then as the years went on it seemed that the old-english spelling was gradually phased out. So it hasn't been all that long.

I actually prefer the way they spell those words as they seem to take on a different charm than our contemporary spellings possess.

 

[Huckleman2000]

That's exactly what I'm seeing. Some publishers are going to want to do things one way while others will do things another way.

They spell color (colour) correctly. There's a number of other words that get that extra 'u' stuck in there. It's an old-english way of spelling that the US no longer recognizes as being correct. When I was a child in the 70s I was actually told that both spellings were correct, and then as the years went on it seemed that the old-english spelling was gradually phased out. So it hasn't been all that long.

I actually prefer the way they spell those words as they seem to take on a different charm than our contemporary spellings possess.

as a research analyst that was mentored by Brits, I must concur - it feels ever so much better to "analyse consumer behaviour" than to "analyze consumer behavior".

But, a word to the wise: Never order a martini from a British bartender. Particularly if you prefer them dry.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Whatever form of punctuation you use, BE CONSISTENT.

As several others have said, QUOTATION MARKS ARE FOR QUOTES, NOT THOUGHTS. Using them to indicate internal thoughts risks confusing the reader.

As for how else to show something is internal monologue, it's always a good idea to follow the CMS, Strunk & White, and whatever deity BlackSnake got his info from. That said, there is one great advantage to using italics. If the publisher prefers the modern look, it's a piece of cake to remove them with word processors, while adding italics would be a long, line-item drag.

Rumple Foreskin