I've got some characters in my fantasy WIP that communicate telepathically (some can only communicate telepathically), and I'm having trouble deciding the best way to deal with it. Italics, regular quotation marks, other punctuation? I've seen :: or <<>> or even parentheses used, but mostly in sci-fi, I think.
What do you think is easiest to read?
Posted by Owasm (Member # 8501) on :
My opinion: If they're going to do it all the time, I'd put their thoughts in italics and don't use italics anywhere else. That way it will be easy for the reader to pick it up. If you don't use it for any other purpose than mind talk, I don't think anyone will be confused and it will be simple to write.
Posted by EmilyS (Member # 9447) on :
And what if I have to use italics in other places, too? Foreign words, or regular thoughts? (I'm trying to work around it for regular thoughts, but there's no other way to distinguish foreign words).
Posted by Brendan (Member # 6044) on :
I don't think foreign words will be confusing, so keep them in italics. It is the potential for mixing private and public thoughts that is a potential problem.
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
I have seen it done with italics but I think I have also seen it done with underlines. But whatever method you use just be sure to use it all the time, which you probably know already.
As to which way is easy to read, I'm not sure. As far as I have noticed they are all about the same with readability .
Posted by elilyn (Member # 9426) on :
I'm just guessing, but I would say quotation marks and italics for external thoughts and just italics for internal thoughts.
Posted by JohnColgrove (Member # 9236) on :
I never use italics. Whenever I have a thought I usually put...
Character thought "Yada-yada."
That's just personal preference.
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
Check out the Ender saga. You have telepathic communication in those stories.
Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :
I have never seen consensus on this. I don't use italics, quotes or any punctuation for internal thoughts.
For telepathy, I would maybe consider using some. I'm not a fan of odd marks and would stick probably with italics.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I've seen a lot of different ways of handling it...I'm thinking two things, though. (1) So long as it's consistent throughout, and (2) Any system you come up with will be between you and your editor / publisher to argue about how to handle unless it's really simple...
Posted by EVOC (Member # 9381) on :
quote:Check out the Ender saga. You have telepathic communication in those stories.
That was the first time I saw the <> used and I loved it. To me it was the clearest way to do it.
Posted by JohnColgrove (Member # 9236) on :
To me italics or anything like it is a little distracting Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
In his boot camp, OSC expressed a strong dislike for italics, especially in long segments of internal or <external> thoughts, and suggested using other means for denoting these types of things.
He stated that italics are generally disliked by editors and are often glanced over quickly by readers. I believe a fairly accurate paraphrase of something he said was that if you don't want something to be read, then write a whole paragraph in italics.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Lets try some and see how they look:
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, John I think they are trying to kill me.
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, (John I think they are trying to kill me.)
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, John I think they are trying to kill me.
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, <John I think they are trying to kill me.>
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, "John I think they are trying to kill me."
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, {John I think they are trying to kill me.*
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, *John I think they are trying to kill me*.
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, §John I think they are trying to kill me§.
Amelia kept her eyes forward but her thoughts were toward John, John I think they are trying to kill me.
[This message has been edited by Pyre Dynasty (edited April 10, 2011).]
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
I think there should be a period behind the first John in every example.
Posted by EmilyS (Member # 9447) on :
@philocinemas -- I think I have some of that same dislike for italics, hence my question (since italics seem like the default answer).
@Pyre Dynasty -- Thanks for the examples
I guess it'll partly depend on how much of it I use, but I think I'm leaning toward <this>, especially if I end up with big chunks of mind-dialogue. As an added bonus, it'll be easy to do a find & replace if I don't like it later.
