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Think in Text - TV Tropes

  • ️Fri Mar 09 2012

A common problem faced by many writers is how to convey thought or telepathic "speech" in text. After all, the written word doesn't lend itself to all those convenient editing tricks used in voice-overs for film, music, or radio. Yes, that famous slightly hollow sound is the one we're thinking of, here.

In text.

Standard dialogue with "s/he thought" tacked on just gets... repetitive when it happens often. Even if the author has done a really good job trying to avoid it by hitting ''Roget's Thesaurus'' hard for inspiration. The problem is, it hardly stands out from ordinary dialogue. Hence, this trope happened as a shorthand. Or, just a break from boredom.

Authors may play with the typeset, bold the text, abuse punctuation, exaggerate indentation or spacing, or, in more modern times, employ hypertext. For more details, peruse the analysis tab.

Think in Text is, therefore, a distinctive sub-trope of Painting the Medium and sister trope of Translation Punctuation mixed with Unconventional Formatting. It's very closely related to Inner Monologue in some way, as well, especially when its tricks have been used there.

Thought Bubble Speech is a variant where non-Talking Animals somehow communicate through their thought bubbles.

See also: Mind over Matter, Psychic Powers, Psychic Link, Technopath and Speculative Fiction for times when you'll see this trope in action. Note: Speculative Fiction is not the only area in which you'll find it, but it's more likely to crop up there than anywhere else.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga 

  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: This is used almost pivotally at several moments throughout the manga, and nearly every character's inner monologue is used to directly describe the situation.

Comic Books 

  • Marvel Universe: Differently-shaped Speech Bubbles are accompanied by an opening/closing symbol similar to an equals sign but not quite so parallel to convey telegraphic speech.

    "=> Come, my X-Men! I, Professor X, need you! <="

  • ElfQuest: Novelizations and Spin-Off anthologies use double asterisks to denote elfin 'sending', viz: **Save your breath and send, it's easier.**

Fan Works 

  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: In "Seizing Heart Number 3", italics are used to show a minion's thoughts in text after Ami's demonstration of the dangers of staying too long in enemy territory.

Literature 

By Author:

  • Anne McCaffrey uses italics to denote telepathy and internal thoughts in most of her series, with special note on Dragonriders of Pern and Tower and the Hive.
  • Katharine Kerr is known for a mix of italics and non-standard punctuation in most of her works, notably in her Deverry and Polar City series. In the latter, telepathy and technopathy loom large; the former leans more towards italicized thoughts and telepathy.
  • Katherine Kurtz uses italics for the psychic dialogues between Deryni characters, which is quite helpful, especially on occasions when ordinary humans are present and thus unable to "hear" such conversations.
  • Julian May: In her Galactic Milieu and Saga of the Exiles series, she employs unconventional formatting to denote a mix of telepathy, standard thought, and technopathy. It's mainly italics, but also some non-standard punctuation thrown for images, smells, and more abstract concepts.
  • Orson Scott Card denotes internal monologue simply by switching from third to first person. It keeps readers on their toes.

By Work:

  • Aeon 14 renders Electronic Telepathy with angle brackets in place of quote marks, while also italicizing the quotation.
  • Animorphs: The narration employs <brackets> to indicate thought-speech.
  • The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The title character thinks in footnotes. This is supposed to represent how the mind of a djinn can run several trains of thought simultaneously. In the last book, Nathaniel actually interrupts one of his asides to tell him to cut it out.
  • The Demolished Man: Espers communicate in "thought patterns"; which have their own beauty and order standards attached to them in Esper culture. These are shown by spacing and organizing italicized words to make pictures or patterns on the pages, in addition to regular telepathy in italics.
  • Deryni Rising: In Alaric Morgan's Establishing Character Moment, the readers are effectively on the receiving end of an Exposition Beam. Morgan recalls the events that put him on that horse to Rhemuth with descriptive words and phrases separated by points of ellipsis.
  • Ketrin: Italics appear whenever the viewpoint character is using telepathy, while plus signs indicate other characters replying.

Video Games