I won’t say the name of the book, but I’ve been reading a very highly regarded sci-fi novel and was struck by how it handles unspoken discourse. No quotation marks, no italics.
For those unaware, CMOS defines unspoken discourse as thoughts, imagined dialogue, and other internal discourse (that isn’t actually spoken out loud by a character). The novel I’m reading was written decades ago. In much of the more modern fiction I normally read, I often come across unspoken discourse in italics. I’m a big proponent of this, and this is generally how I advise my clients to handle unspoken discourse as well (if they haven’t already). And I always explain why. I believe that italicizing unspoken discourse better differentiates it from surrounding text.
In fiction, quotation marks are primarily used for actual spoken dialogue; normal font is used for narration. There’s a clear separation between the two. Since the unspoken discourse in the book I’m reading appears in normal font and without quotation marks, there’s no signaling to the reader (me) that the line being read is now unspoken discourse as opposed to more narration. I’m only aware of it after I’ve read the line and have corrected myself. This breaks my concentration and takes me out of the story.
CMOS 13.43 says unspoken discourse may be enclosed in quotation marks or not, according to the writer’s preference, so according to industry standards, this book isn’t technically doing anything wrong. But. As an editor, I feel that italicizing unspoken discourse is a better way to do things because it lessens the potential of confusing the reader.
As I’ve mentioned, italicizing unspoken discourse seems to be a more common practice nowadays, so I wonder if a future edition of CMOS will end up changing its stance.
This is one of the many reasons why I love editing fiction; there are often multiple ways to tackle things. I always tell my clients that as long as we’re consistent, we can handle things like this in whichever way makes sense to them.
If you’re looking for an editor for your book, I’d love to work together. Feel free to reach out to me today for a free sample edit.
Timothy
