How to type this?

[suhanidh12]

Hi so- I am a new novelist I guess. I am rewriting my novel that I posted on tapas. And I just wanna know that if I want my character to think and I want to type it down that what my character is thinking in their mind. How will I write it down?

[chestnutriceeee]

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I assume you mean how you can show thoughts in a novel? I'll answer in the same vein.

In third-person works using italics or single quotation marks ('this') is probably the most common way to go about it. As long as it is different from how you show spoken dialogue, you should be safe with some other markers as well.

[sonicalh9]

I ask myself that too.
How do they do it in 3rd person (light) novels? Are there standard (unwritten) rules?

[sonicalh9]

Aren't quotation marks used when the character speaks?

[suhanidh12]

Ah yes you're right about what I wanted to ask. Thank you for your help! ( ╹▽╹ )

[SleepingPoppy]

Chestnut was saying you could use a single tally mark ' instead of the regular quotation " to show thought verses speech. Though italics is definitely the clearer way to go.

Ex: 'Who is at the door?' She wondered, as she headed from the back of the house to greet whoever was knocking. When she opened to door, she saw it was her neighbor and smiled, "Hey, Helen! What brings you here?"

I hope that illustrated the difference!

[chestnutriceeee]

Glad to help! All the best with your re-write!

[chestnutriceeee]

As @SleepingPoppy said! I hope that example helped!

[rajillustration]

you can use double quotes as well

"I really don't care." He thought to himself as she talked about her summer vacation.

It's like your mind is speaking, so that's ok. Lets people know to read the line in the character's voice. You just have to make sure that you write "they thought" or something along the lines of thinking afterward so we know it isn't speaking.

Another thing you can do is italics, which was brought up before in the thread.

I really don't care. He thought to himself as she talked about her summer vacation.

And tbh I see italics most often when it comes to how you write thoughts.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

If you include a verb that indicates the words are thought instead of spoken, it doesn't seem to matter what sort of font or quotation marks one uses, since it has been made clear already.
It gets more important when you omit the verbs & just stick the thought into the text - like this:

Beatrice found the Professor out in the garden again on another night, sitting on the same bench, staring at the moon, just as before. Was he waiting for me? It was a setting better than she could have hoped for.