Pet Peeve #4 - Thinking
by JM
Another short and sweet pet peeve for you, ladies and gentlemen. It concerns the subject of your characters thinking.
One of the first things I learned when I started studying the technical side of writing was this big no-no:
I like chocolate pie, he thought to himself.
To put it simply, unless you’re telepathic, you’ll always think to yourself. 
Happy writing!
writer’s mistakes, creative writing
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December 18th, 2006 at 5:53 am
I think you missed Pet Peeve 4.
lol
December 18th, 2006 at 5:54 am
damn…you edited it while I was writing.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:56 am
Ha! And ha again!
Ahem.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:57 am
But I still SAW it.
And the URL for this post says pet-peeve-5.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Ahem.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:00 am
Ha! Take a look at the URL now!
December 18th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Still in my memory though!
HA!
December 18th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Touche. Any thoughts (no pun intended) on the *actual* subject, though?
December 18th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
I’ve experimented with just doing the itallics and no thought. If the story is in third person and the italics are there with a first person perspective, I’d think that it would be obvious as to what it is. Then again, I’ve never been published so what the hell do I know? Is this right?
December 19th, 2006 at 2:33 am
Actual thoughts? Don’t do so good with them..
Hmm…I usually write from a third-person perspective, so it’s rare that I get into a character’s head enough for me to detail their thoughts.
If I did do it, though, I’d not put “X thought to himself”. I’d probably just do it in italics.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:44 am
Paul - I think that would work most of the time in the first-person perspective. I’d have to read the scene/story, though, to be sure.
Bethany - Actual thoughts aren’t exactly my forte either.
Third person is the way I usually write and italics on their own usually work after I’ve established the first “he/she thought.”