Of the different ways to write character thoughts, the three most common in modern fiction seem to be:

Past tense: Where was he? he wondered.

Present tense, without italics: Where am I? he wondered.

Present tense, with italics: Where am I? he wondered.

Do you use one of these three methods? Or do you write character thoughts another way?

Present tense with italics. It's the most common, and I think the most realistic. Although sometimes it works better in story mode...like you're not hearing his thoughts but I'm telling you what they are. Not often though, because you want to show and not tell most of the time.

I don't really use any of them. My most common way of portraying character thoughts is just flow of consciousness.

Here's an example.

Jordan looked around the dungeon furtively. Where was he? Why did he feel so empty? Why did it have to be so dark?

With a loud creak, the door started to swing open, and a man with a torch walked in. Funny. With a belly and a mustache like that you'd expect him to be smiling.

Does that make sense?

When I state the character's thoughts directly in 1st person, I use present tense and italics.

I also often use the method that Willow described - working the character's opinion into the 3rd person narrative.

All of this gets a bit sticky when working in 1st person. Most of the "thoughts" can get worked directly into the narrative, but sometimes I still have italicized quips. I usually make the distinction by whether I want to talk in past tense (narrative) or present tense (thoughts).

Yes. I do that a lot as well. But I guess I have really thoughtful characters, so sometimes it works better to give them italicized thoughts. My recent books have had less and less of those...

I'm not fond of present tense without italics, even though some books I really like have it. I find it annoying to read, because there's no indication of when it's going to appear and switch the past tense narrative into present tense thoughts.

Mainly I use past tense or present tense with italics. I find the past tense most useful for short stories, particularly since some magazine editors seem to be prefer uniform text, while present tense with italics is useful for novels. I've debated using all past tense for the sake of consistency and since it is more universal, but on the other hand I like the flexibility of present tense with italics.

By the way, I would consider thoughts in the narrative and in flow of consciousness as past tense. Like I mentioned before, it's probably the most universal way of writing character thoughts, and it's popular because it works.

I just can't decide if I prefer the uniformity of past tense or the flexibility of present tense with italics. Maybe I'll keep using both.

I'm pretty sure I use present tense with italics. It's been a while since I've needed to write a character's thoughts.

I use present tense with italics.

I've used all three before, it depends on the character or the novel for me. I try to be consistent though within a novel. I think it depends also on the POV (point of view). In a novel with a more distant or omnipresent POV I would keep them all in past tense, while a close limited POV where we only see the thoughts of one person unless there's a chapter or scene break, I'd probably use present tense and italics in most cases, since not using italics can be confusing (even if I've done it before with one of my novels or don't bother with them when posting on a forum).

At the risk of derailing the thread from a topic of format to a topic of style (though Jonathan already jumped one wheel from the tracks )...

On the issue of consistency, I think it depends on your personal style. Do you like to see thoughts written out, or do you like them to be more subtly woven into the narrative?

I was once told that my characters "think" too often. I agree that italicized character thoughts, if not done properly, can be an unnecessary distraction and break in the narrative. They can also be "cheap" - an easy way to explain a character's thoughts instead of showing them by action - if used callously. But when written deftly, placed naturally in the narrative, I think they can add flavor. I don't recommend overdoing them, however.

I also agree with Ardyth - the tone of your story is an important factor. Some of my short stories are almost entirely one long thought process. I usually have less italicized thoughts if I'm working in first person.

If it has to do with character thoughts, it's on topic. Style is as relevant to the discussion as format.

I'm a present-tenser with italics person as well. ^^

I have some questions about the use of present tense with italics:

Do you have a hard time finding balance writing thoughts in present tense with italics? Do you think they can be used too excessively? Also, do you think they can be used too sparsely?

And some questions about the use of past tense:

Do you find using all past tense harder than using a mix of past tense and present tense with italics? Or do you finding using all past tense easier? Or is there no difference in how hard the two ways are to write?

I generally use Present tense with italics when I do. Word makes it easy because I can just hit CTRL + I whenever I want to change it.



I sometimes get confused in my writing whether I'm actually speaking from a narrator's point of view, or my character's thoughts. These are generally the messy parts of my novel that need help. It gets confusing to me even reading back over it... something I should work on I guess.

Again, I think it ultimately comes down to personal style. You can make just about anything “work” if it’s your personal style and it fits the piece.

In general usage, however, I would suggest using character thoughts in moderation. If you’re writing them constantly, filling pages with italics, you should probably consider using 1st person or converting some of the thoughts to narration. If you’re only using italicized thoughts every once in a great while, however, they’ll probably stick out oddly.

Very complex or personal thoughts are sometimes easier to write in 1st person present tense, but generally I don’t have difficulty writing either. It’s just whatever feels natural in the flow of the piece. I don’t think it would be difficult to convert thoughts from one to the other during editing, either, if necessary.

I've done that occasionally, once with an entire novel. So I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot on the first draft. It was pretty tedious to edit, though.

I only italicize dialogue and thoughts. No names, it is something to help the reader tell apart the different words.

I italicize my MC's thoughts and then bold italicize the thoughts of my Diegose. It helps tell their thoughts apart, and it lets the readers know when thinking is occuring, as opposed to speaking.

I use past with italics. I think it is more showing rather than telling.

Present tense with italics. I prefer it, yet sometimes I totally forget. Or (derailment not intended ), you can have your character talk all of his thoughts out loud. A bit distracting perhaps, but, when italics are not possible (such as during a word war on 'Write or Die'), you can easily do this and convert it quickly back to regular present tense with italics.

I do 'flow of consciousness' past tense. This is actually the POV, and so of course does not need italicized.

But, when a character actually has voiced thoughts, I do it like this: 'Well, that wasn't supposed to happen.'

I don't care for italics.

@LadyE: Yes, I do that sometimes as well. The word helt is always italicized, as is the word dagger during the scene of its invention

eru