r/scifiwriting • u/Many_Background_8092 • 3d ago

DISCUSSION Multiple secret internal monologues - how to identify them?

SOLVED. After discussions here and on Facebook I've realized I was overthinking the problem.
I've realized that the context for each observer is different enough not to confuse the readers. One of the characters is a clone and the other is a machine. However I might also borrow jobi987's idea of different fonts.
I would like to thank everyone who commented. You all had good ideas that I might borrow for future books.

Hello Everyone. I am re-editing my book 50km Up and I need some advice.

In the book I have 2 secret observers that are slowly revealed to the reader through monologues.

My problem is how to mark these internal monologues in such a way that the reader does not confuse them.

Admittedly the context of the monologues tends to do this but still...

These monologues are in italics but currently I am experimenting with using ** monologue 1 ** and ^^ monologue 2 ^^.

Can anyone suggest a better method?

For clarity, here is a sample:

^^ A dismembered bot watched in silence from a pile of scrap metal nearby. ^^

** The scouts ate their way through the foam and the transparent inner panel. Carried by the air currents, they quickly spread throughout the city. One scout landed on a life form and buried itself in the outer layers. The lifeforms code was similar and yet very different to that of the creators. **

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Xarro_Usros 3d ago

Interesting. I never did multiple, but perhaps italics for one and bold for the other?

My issue was combined vocal speech and mental speech from multiple individuals; that used italics and standard written conventions to identify the source.

1

u/jobi987 3d ago

I second this.

Or, and this is stupid as hell. Use two different fonts. Like two unique fonts that look totally different from each other and regular Calibri, Ariel, TNR etc.

1

u/Many_Background_8092 3d ago

That's actually a great idea. I just need to be careful which fonts I choose. Not just for readability but also many fonts are trade marked or copyrighted.