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In Erin's thread about use of tenses, the writing of explicit thoughts (expressing what a character is thinking at a specific moment in a story) came up.
I'd like to advocate a specific style for indicating that text in a story represents explicit thought. I think I first saw this used in some of Bek Corbin's stories, but Angela and I used it in "Peaches," and I've convinced Itinerant and a couple others to use it.
I'm referring to the use of the tilde (~) as a sort of "quotation mark" for thoughts, usually also italicizing the text.
~Did he really mean that?~
~Wow! She's hot!~
Another advantage of using the tilde is that at sites like FM, where only .txt files are posted, the tilde will still show up, albeit without the italics.
I've never seen any comments from readers, pro or con, on this usage. I'd like your input on the idea.
~I hope they like it!~
Amelia
Comments
Tilde
Whatever the author decides and is consistant throughout the story is the way I've heard it. I like to use straight italics for explicit thoughts and leave no the thought attribution at all, unless I can't get away with it - which is a pretty common in books - but, as you say, on a .txt site you can't use italics, so tildes would work quite well. There is also the "old" way with double quotes and thought attribution, still common in the UK, and single quotes with thought attribution - more common in the states, but whatever works.
Tildes make as much or more sense than the other methods.
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
I like it
That is a great tip Amelia and I am going to start using it. I used italics all through Genomorph without considering that it would not show up on FM. The tilde would get around that and it adds kind of an ethereal feel to the line, making it more 'thought like'.
Thanks!
~Now I just have to figure out where the tilde key is....oh I see it!~
Sincerely,
Scott
Bree
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
-- Tom Clancy
http://genomorph.tglibrary.com/ (Currently broken)
http://bree-ramsey314.livejournal.com/
Twitter: @genomorph
~Hmm, should I make a comment?~
I find this is eminently readable. But I think it depends on the writer's style. It works well for a lot of free-form story with lots of dialogue and occasional private thoughts.. but I don't think it works for everyone.
Love,
Diane
Love,
Diane
Conventions
The question of how to delineate formatting, in an environment that *can* be pure text, is something that is tough.
Using a '~' for thoughts was worthwhile, given it was something Amelia was accustomed to with her other authors.
In general, I try to stick with the Usenet conventions: *bold*, /italic/, _underline_, and so forth. Not that /anyone/ notices those sorts of things in _IRC_ land ...
;-)
Nicole (a.k.a. Itinerant)
--
Veni, Vidi, Velcro:
I came, I saw, I stuck around.
Not So Sure About Tilde
I'd much rather use a squiggly "~" than a tilde.
If we do use a tilde on a TG site shouldn't it be a Matilde?
Waltzing Matilde, waltzing Matilde, you'll come a waltzing Matilde with me. . . .
What?
Ohhh. Matilda!!
Nevermind.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
To Tilde or not to Tilde
Angela, get back on your meds, or if you're on them, can I have some?
I grew up in the land of italics for such internal speach but when I finally got the nerve up -- or is it gall -- to post something, it was to a site that does not support italics. I buried internal dialog in quotes or -- em dashes and/or equivalent -- or ignored it and mixed it with the naration. Then along comes Itinerant who takes pity on me, and those who read my Whateley stuff, and suggested Amelia's tilde. It's not bad and suits my purposes nicely, plus what else can you do with it? The key looks so lonely way out there.
I also remember nested quotes but with my first person style of writing, they get byzantine after a while. The tilde is KISS.
~And if I didn't use it my editor/proof reader would sic his Amazon's on me.~
~Remember to edit that bit out, John.~
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. I've wondered for some time, does the 007 after your "name" mean you have a licence to kill?
John in Wauwatosa
Hardly
It's just a Bond-ing ritual ...
I'm inclined to live and let die ...
After all, you only live twice ...
(Hook comes in from off stage and drags Itinerant into the wings)
Nicole (a.k.a. Itinerant)
--
Veni, Vidi, Velcro:
I came, I saw, I stuck around.
I was taught to use ...
Astrixes
*Damn, I should have payed more attenshun in spelling class!*.
"All the world really is a stage, darlings, so strut your stuff, have fun, and give the public a good show!" Miss Jezzi Belle at the end of each show
BE a lady!
I'm OK with the tilde but...
...it's not the only option available. Any delimiter which won't be easily mistaken for other things can be used. Jack L. Chalker mentioned being inspired by George O. Smith into using special delimiters to tell apart telepathic dialogue from "plain" internalized thought.
The tilde has its good points. It's not too intrusive visually, and it's available in plain old 7-bit ASCII. But it has a minor limitation of not being directional -- that is, like plain-text quote marks, the "open" glyph is the same as the "close" one.
Other options... there are three pairs of ASCII glyphs that see almost no use in text narrative -- <>, [] and {}. Myself, I like using the first one in plaintext, or "guillemets" (those sideways chevron things the French use for quote marks) for formatted (HTML) text. But that's just me.
Sometimes there are good reasons for using a number of different delimiters. Renae's Merry is a case in point: she uses a different delimiter for each of the "inner voices" in Merry's head, and another one for telepathy. Sometimes I wonder if even Renae can keep track of all those delimiters...
Another case: in Tuck and Tuck Season, Ellen Hayes sometimes has her characters "talking" through ASL. She uses special delimiters (I think <>) for that.
The important thing, really, as in all formatting... is to be consistent. Assign a meaning to each delimiter (or formatting style) and stick with it. And think ahead about how to deal with conflicting styles -- if you decided that ironic is italic and shouting is both bold and uppercase, how can you stress a single word inside a shouted sentence, without making it seem ironic usage?
To Wysiwyg or not to Wysiwyg
With the wysiwyg editor on, you can simply mark internal dialog in italic here at BC.
If you import from a word processor that supports it (and doesn't muck up the html) you can easily get italics.
And if you turn off wysiwyg editing, or use one of the non-wysiwyg formats, you can simply mark italics with Html italics. < i>italics< /i> (Leave out the spaces after the < bracket to make the html commad work.)
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.