So my MMC is a necromancer and he spends most of his time talking to spirits. One in particular.
She's a constant running commentary, and only shuts up when he goes to earn some money, but then she's warning him of danger and stuff like that. The point is that she's always around. Unless he's misplaced her skull or something.
I'm wondering what the right format the dialogue would have be in to have the two chatter to each other, yet without having them talk aloud (because it makes my MMC sound insane).
With quotation marks? Without? Italics? He said, she said? All of the above? None of the above?
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2008: Nekromantia (Contemporary Fantasy) - 51k.




50,010 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2008 - 11 38
Let me see if I have this right... There is a spirit around your necromancer and they constantly talk to each other?
If they are talking to each other, as in opening and closing their mouths, then it works like dialogue, I would believe.
Mouths closed, then it's italics. (That's psychic mind speech stuff.) No quotations necessary.
I'm pretty sure this is industry standard...
If it's generalized thoughts, you can use either quotations or just phrase the words so they stand in for speech. He thought that yadda yadda. He looked at her. She was an awful mess. <-- obviously his thought/ opinion.
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