I am now finishing up my sixth novel, Fixing His Broken Ballerina. Generally speaking, I am really thrilled with the way it is working out. I love the characters and I love both their dialogue with each other AND their thought lives. (When I read a book, I find that I am captivated with the way the characters dialogue with each other. And, in truth, I have a tendency to skim over the parts where descriptives or narratives abound. I think I get bored easily. In my case, I think it’s an “age-thing.”)

Anyway…

After getting almost six novels done and published, this is the first time it ever occurred to me to research how a character’s thoughts should be presented. And, as I researched, here is what I discovered:

• Thoughts should be italicized.
• Thoughts do NOT have quotation marks around them (No “…..”s)
• And, I think there was one other thing, but ADHD as I suspect I have (sad, but true!), I have forgotten what it is. (I just can’t bear the idea of having to go back and check out what it is!)

I should probably go back and find out what that third thing is, but I can’t remember where I found that information. UGH! DOG-GONE IT! DAG-BLAST IT! (So, see, at least I learned the two things above today, and actually used them in the capitalized statements above!) Sure wish I could remember the third thing! (I both said this last sentence AND was thinking it.) Hmmm… does that mean I should, or should not italicize?!

I’m so frustrated!!! Know what I’m thinking now????

Oh, well… all I can say is I’m glad my novels are digital, since I need to go back and re-read them to see if I wrote the thoughts of the characters properly, and if not, correct them.

Novel-writing is an endless process!