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How to Edit Inner Monologue
Five tips that will make all the difference.
Inner monologue is a character talking to themselves — inside their heads. Basically, it’s dialogue that’s not spoken. It’s thoughts.
There is a difference between inner monologue and exposition (or narrative.)
Inner monologue is happening in the moment. It’s what’s going on in a character’s head during an active scene. It’s written in the first person, present tense, no matter what tense and point of view the rest of the book is written in.
Exposition or narrative is storytelling. It’s written in the same tense and point of view as the rest of the story.
Here’s one way to distinguish between the two.
- Inner monologue is similar to dialogue. It’s something that might be said, word for word, out loud.
“Do you want to go to a movie tonight?”
“Sure.” At least it’ll get me out of the house. “I’d love to.”
- Narrative is more like writing a letter. It’s not something that would be spoken, as is, out loud.
“Do you want to go to a movie tonight?”
“Sure.” She’d do just about anything to get out of the house. “I’d love to.”
Editing Inner Monologue
In many ways, editing inner monologue isn’t a lot different from editing dialogue. It should read naturally. It should flow. It should be written in the character’s voice.
But there are a few things that are unique to editing inner monologue. I’ll go over those here.
Make sure the formatting is right.
Just like dialogue, inner monologue gets its own paragraph, with perhaps a small action beat. Each paragraph belongs to one character. The action beat should be performed by the same person who has the inner monologue.
While you can italicize inner monologue, you don’t have to. You don’t even need to tag it at all. As long…
