Hi everyone,
I usually write in 1st person, now that I'm writing something in 3rd I'm finding it confusing conveying the character's internal thoughts. I know there are a number of ways of doing this, and was wondering which techniques people tend to favour, and which, in you prefer when reading?
Can I use all of the different techniques in the one MS? Or is better to stick to the one or two?
Thanks in advance
Thanks Victoria, that's very helpful
Have you ever played poker?
I tend to give each of my characters a sort of tick. It never means the same thing with each character, but as the reader gets to know them, they start to understand what each tick means. For instance, when one of my MCs is worried about his friend, he drinks bourbon and tinkles the ice against the glass in the same way his friend always does. That way I never have to say he's thinking about him; the reader just knows as soon as the ice hits the glass.
My other MC had a particular way of inclining her head which usually had the people around her falling over their words to prevent the mouthful they were about to receive from her. Essentially, the head incline meant she was thinking up an acerbic retort and you had about ten seconds to dig yourself out of the hole, but I never once wrote that. It was merely demonstrated in the dialogue and actions.
That's not to say I didn't head jump, but I gave myself quite strict rules about how often it happened in the same chapter and whose thoughts I used. Generally, I stuck to two characters, only occasionally jumping into peripheral characters to give the outsider's point of view on the situation. You should also understand my chapters are long in that particular book. If they were short, I would not take the reader into more than one head per chapter.
So pleased you enjoyed the novel - and that it's being useful!
Lorraine