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Chapter 7
Conveying Characters’
Thoughts in Style
In This Chapter
▶ Laying out characters’ thoughts on the page
▶ Communicating a character’s inner world
▶ Making use of free indirect style
You hear and even read a lot of nonsense today about books and the
written word being ‘sooooo last century’ because of the challenges
posed by electronic media. But well-written prose still does one thing more
effectively than any other form does: it can reveal a character’s thoughts and
feelings in a wonderfully direct and efficient manner. In this chapter, I look at
the different ways in which you can convey your characters’ thoughts and
feelings to readers – including the incredibly useful free indirect style. I also
describe some of the best approaches to getting a character’s thoughts down
clearly and stylishly on the page.
Exploring Ways to Set Down
Characters’ Thoughts
You can lay down your character’s thoughts on the page in a number of different
ways. In this section I discuss some of the options, using the same
basic passage to examine the pro and cons of the different techniques. The
crucial elements to aim for in your own work are clarity and believability,
while not drawing too much distracting attention to your writing or making it
too repetitive.