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Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [internal-thoughts]

11 questions
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1 answer

Writing a third person limited protagonist without any inner dialogue

I want to write a protagonist that thinks as I do; that is to say, without any inner monologue. I don't even think in images either. It's just abstract thoughts for me. If a place reminds me of my childhood home, I just know it does. But is it…
user57479
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How to convert indirect thought to film voiceover without it sounding contrived?

I am trying to convert a fiction book into a film script. The book uses third-person past tense narration that switches between several characters from chapter to chapter and thus is always from a particular character's viewpoint. There is quite a…
FrontEnd
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How would the "one good member" of an evil organization/culture see themselves?

I have a character that is the stereotypical "token good member of an evil organization". The organization is a brutal social darwinist one that sees nothing wrong with killing people and taking what they want from people. This is their attitude to…
user2352714
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How to format italicized internal thoughts intermixed with other text?

I'm writing a story in the 3rd person, but there are parts where I use italicized text in the 1st person to tell what the protagonist is thinking. This works pretty well most of the time, but there are some cases where there's non-thought text that…
Dasmowenator
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2 answers

Internal thoughts or just narration?

I'm struggling with my thoughts about what I see as a dichotomy. Basically, I'm not sure when started, but emulating some novels I read, I started using mainly narration to describing the thoughts and internal conflicts of my POV characters. Very…
Erin Tesden
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How to externalise internal thoughts better?

I've been watching a lot of Krzysztof Kieślowski movies lately, especially Decalogue, and I've noticed how adept he is at using visuals to externalise the inner ideas of his characters. How can I write screenplays that do that?
Vallance Alvares
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Is it good practice to use himself/herself when tagging quoted text

In many ways, this question follows on from one I had asked here just two days ago. When writing internal monologues I often end up using the '...self' tag. For instance "--- ... ---," she said to herself. "blah, blah, blah...," he admonished…
DroidOS
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What to use for internal thoughts, single quotes or italics?

When writing internal thoughts within a larger body of text, is it more correct to write it like ... 'She's totally lying.' ... or ... She's totally lying....
Elias Sampson
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Any tips on writing character's thoughts?

I find that in pauses between action and dialogue, my character's thoughts really don't seem realistic. I think I tend to mostly write questions for my character's thoughts. I also don't know if I'm biased because I'm the author when I read…
Selina
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Characters inner thoughts made others mad?

I have this overall "good" and polite character. He helps everyone in need and is very much raised to be like a posh-like Victorian gentleman. The thing is, he keeps his "negative" opinions to himself. Being raised not to cause a scene/conflict. If…
Carambamucho
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Guy's POV when falling in love. Too much, not enough?

Half of my story is told from (1st person) male POV and he falls in love with the leader of a rebellion he's meant to be undercover investigating and trying to stop. He slowly comes round to join the rebellion, . However, I am neither a man, nor…
aurorajack
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