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Q&A What is generally the accepted format style for telepathic communication in the midst of verbal communication?

Italic text is the most common format for telepathic communications. Savil spotted the soldiers filing into the pass and called up to her nephew. Get into position. They're here, she sent. A...

posted 8y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24633
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 · 2019-12-08T05:35:46Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24633
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T05:35:46Z (almost 5 years ago)
Italic text is the most common format for telepathic communications.

> Savil spotted the soldiers filing into the pass and called up to her nephew. _Get into position. They're here,_ she sent.  
> _And the demon?_ he asked.  
> _I can smell it from halfway up the mountain,_ Savil confirmed.

Sometimes other punctuation is thrown in to set telepathic speech apart from emphasis or thought. Mercedes Lackey uses double colons:

> Vanyel glanced over at Yfandes. _::You'd better go now,::_ he sent to her.

You could also use guillemets:

> Yfandes snorted. _«And leave you alone with that thing? Not bloody likely.»_ He smiled grimly at his Companion's loyalty.

You might use asterisks as well:

> Vanyel made his decision. _\*Okay, you move into the valley and cover the soldiers. I'm going to the peak where I can get a better shot at that thing,\*_ he sent Savil.

As a separate but related note, I would use _sent_ rather than _thought at_ or _thought to_ as the attribution tag, but that's a matter of style.

I absolutely would not use quotes for telepathy or internal thoughts if you're using quotes for verbal speech; it's visually confusing.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-09-15T09:59:44Z (about 8 years ago)
Original score: 16