Internal Dialogue?

[iRoswell]

Good evening,
I hope all is well with all of you. I am interested in learning more about internal dialogue. First person narratives seem fascinating but I'm not quite sure about how to show internal dialogue. Do you put it in quotes, like you would external? Or do you just leave it alone and use dialogue tags to show that its internal? Any and all advice is welcomed.

Thanks in advance,
your friendly neighborhood newbie!!!

[VirgilY]

Hi iRoswell,

I use quotation marks when the person is speaking and italicize the words the person is thinking. That works for me in short stories. I'm sure there are other ways to handle this so I hope you get some other viewpoints. I'm still learning.

Best wishes,

[glorybee]

Virgil is correct--use italics for internal dialogue. And above all, never use the phrase "he thought to himself." What else could he think to? Just use "he thought," or omit the tag altogether (since the italics will signal your readers that they are reading your character's thoughts).

[iRoswell]

Thank you both. I thought quotes looked silly so I'm glad it's not the standard. Good point on not saying, and he thought to himself... unless, maybe, he has multiple personalities, . But I guess even then he would have to leave a note.

Thanks for the information. It is greatly appreciated.