Day 7 - CH

Friday, July 26, 2013 - Day 7:

It seems when you are writing a characters thoughts the proper way to punctuate it is a free-for-all.  When Susan (my main character) was alone and thought of something to put on her list of purchases, she thought, Where's  my list?   Uh-oh.  Freeze.  I'm stuck in place.  I had to stop writing to find out what the proper punctuation was for a characters thoughts.  So I left my word document and immediately went to google.
I typed in 'correct grammatical punctuation for thoughts'.  I got a list of possible matches.  I open and read, then I opened and read another, then another.  I mean, I needed to compare.  It's the internet and you don't really know who the experts are and who aren't.  Anyone can put anything out there, it doesn't mean it's accurate.  So I read and compared.
I found that there is no real rule of punctuation for a characters thoughts.  Dialogue between two people have quotation marks and you can use quotation marks for thoughts.  It isn't a good idea to use them when you also have a dialogue going on.  It can be confusing.  Italics can be used for thoughts but that is also used for emphasis.  No punctuation can be used, especially if it's written in first person because that character is the narrator and the reader already knows what they are thinking because they are telling the story.  So it's pretty much a free-for-all, do what you want, except they all agree you should do whatever you choose consistently.
Besides, it said at the end, if you ever get your story published, the publishing house will decide and let you know how to format it.  Right. Good to know.  If ever.
I knew I could have dealt with it later.  I should have kept writing.
I also spent time reading about dangling participles...just because.
TT