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Q&A What are the pros and cons of starting a novel with internal dialogue?

There's no reason why it couldn't work, as long as you quickly make clear that it's internal dialogue. If it's a first-person narrative, the entire story is "internal dialogue," in a sense. The ma...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10631
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:27:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10631
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:27:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
There's no reason why it couldn't work, as long as you quickly make clear that it's internal dialogue. If it's a first-person narrative, the entire _story_ is "internal dialogue," in a sense.

The main benefit is to give the reader immediate access to the character's inner life, which may help us identify with him/her/it/them.

The only real con I could see is if it's written in such a way that the reader is confused whether the text is narration or internal monologue, or if you can't tell who's speaking/thinking for a while.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-03-28T21:19:37Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 11