Writing thoughts and diary entries.

by Eddie Cortex
(California)

Question: This is my first time trying to write, I constantly imagine fictional scenarios, so I decided to write a novel with them, but in my idea, we start with the main character writing a page in his diary, and this will happen in different points of the story but since this is in 1st person POV, there will be internal thoughts and dialogue too. So far I understand that internal thoughts should be written in italics but what about the diary entries? They could be considered internal thoughts but since those are one or two paragraphs long, should those be in italics as well? or do you write them in another way to differentiate when it's a thought and when it's a diary entry?

Answer: First, good on you for starting this project.

Second, interesting question.

Usually when diary entries are inserted into stories they are presented as if they are separate documents, italicized in order to distinguish them from the rest of the story. (Diaries, naturally, are written in first person, past or present tense.)

If I am understanding you correctly, you want to include diary entries at certain points in your novel.

If that is the case, the diary entries probably should be italicized. Sometimes it works to put them in a different font, but only if you are using italics for other purposes elsewhere. (This is your quandry, yes? You are wondering if you should use italics for the character's thoughts.)

However, if the rest of the story (the main document, if you like) is written in first person, then it will consist of the main character's sensory perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. In past tense, it will be as if the main character is telling the story to the reader. In that case, there is no need to put the main character's thoughts in italics. His thoughts are simply part of the narration.

For example, let's say you had a passage like...

"John told me, 'My sister's crazy about you,' but I
didn't believe him."

Here, the main character is describing something that happened, including the words he heard John say. "I didn't believe him" would be one of the main character's internal thoughts, but there is no need to italicize it. We must assume everything in the passage is the main character's description of the events, and that includes his thoughts.

On the other hand, if you were writing in 3rd person narration (limited or omniscient) you might italicize the main character's thoughts to distinquish the character's actual quoted thoughts from the other things the narrator is describing.

For example, here's a paragraph from The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell:

"A young woman emerges from the next-door party and
leans over the neighboring balcony. Her hair is short,
her violet dress is elegant, but she looks incurably
sad and alone. Propose a suicide pact why don't
you? Sixsmith isn't serious, and he isn't going
to jump either, not if an ember of humor still glows.
Besides, a quiet accident is precisely what
Grimaldi, Napier, and those sharp-suited hoodlums are
praying for."

Here, the italics make clear the distinction between Sixsmith's quoted thoughts and the narrator's description of what Sixsmith sees. 

This works because the story is written in 3rd person limited. Even though the narrator is telling the story from Sixsmith's point of view, the narrator is not Sixsmith. So when Sixsmith's actual thoughts appear, the author uses italics to convey that they are quotations.

Now, maybe I've misunderstood you. Maybe your intent is to have the main character writing his diary entries and at the same time having internal thoughts which don't appear in the diary but you still want to include them in the story.

For example, something like...

"I wrote:

February 1, 2024

I went to see my friend, John, today...

I wasn't sure I wanted to record this story. If my
children ever read these pages, it might make me look
young and foolish. But then I thought, 'I'll never
have children,' so I continued.

I wanted to find out what his sister thought of me...""

In this case, the italics distinguish what the character writes from what he is thinking.

I hope that makes sense.

Best of luck.