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In first person (as Ken says) thought verbs are less necessary or unnecessary, but they can be crucial in third person and absolutely necessary. Mary knew Jack was lying, but she smiled anyway...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-19T22:13:04Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35728 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T03:59:11Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35728 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
In first person (as Ken says) thought verbs are less necessary or unnecessary, but they can be crucial in third person and absolutely necessary. > Mary knew Jack was lying, but she smiled anyway. "Oh, I guess I didn't think of that," she said. Sometimes what the character is thinking is critical to their motivations, and can increase tension (or dread), and therefore conflict. That is a good thing. If Mary does nothing physical to betray her knowledge of Jack lying, informing the reader of her thoughts using some verbiage is the only choice, if we want that information revealed at this point. If Mary knows Jack is lying at this moment that can influence what she does next; e.g. cut their date short by feigning illness, continue the date and look for information in his apartment, or believe something else Jack tells her. Perhaps she is a spy and this lie tells her that her cover is blown, and that saves her life. Stuff like that. What a character thinks or knows and does not betray by any physical display can still be important.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2018-04-30T14:16:01Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 1