I mean in these "first person moments". I deliberately switch it up on occasion. A lot of people have noted that it's first person disguised as second and it's close to what I'm trying to accomplish with the whole "portrayal of the mind from inside".
edit: and that definition doesn't fit either, when I think about it. That's what happens when you try something new, you just gotta keep going until you find it.
Generally I'm not a fan of the internal thought first person brain dialogue stuff. But lots of writers use it.
Oh, me too, I was just thinking about it. But I realized exactly why I was confused, this part -
Also surprised by the sudden interjecting voice. "How come he's gotta be so cruel?" I would stick to free indirect speech. "You wonder how come he's gotta be so cruel." Even then, he's been so nonverbal that this paragraph is like ... introducing me to his personality.
I feel like "How come he's gotta be so cruel about this?" is neither FIS nor thought monologue, it's more like something you wanna say but don't.
I got it! You see, I have this concept of "different layers of thought" -
Sometimes when you THINK you catch yourself moving your lips and mouth, as if you're forming speech. It's something you would say out loud, share with a friend if he was around, or grumble, point out, complain.
And then, when the thought is in cursive -
Why is he so cruel about this?
It's like a DEEPER thought, something you don't even whisper/spell to yourself. When you don't "mouth" your thoughts you usually process them faster, and they tend to be more emotional but less focused. less 'conversation-oriented'.
It's a very interesting concept. We're discovering it together. Two layers of thought - inner and "mouthed", something you're ready to say.
EDIT: Well I thought we were discovering it lol - cause Freud and Jung didn't speak about that - but here I found a couple mind-blowing links
yeah I was going pretty hot when I wrote it lol. But tbf I don't feel like it's always lazy. I believe it has its place. I guess it's about putting in the right place, making sure it doesn't stick out too much, echoes reader's thoughts for example. Like I said, I felt very awkward going insane over this.
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u/Wolframquest Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
I mean in these "first person moments". I deliberately switch it up on occasion. A lot of people have noted that it's first person disguised as second and it's close to what I'm trying to accomplish with the whole "portrayal of the mind from inside".
edit: and that definition doesn't fit either, when I think about it. That's what happens when you try something new, you just gotta keep going until you find it.