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Q&A Is inner monologue a bad way to show character traits?

It's not inherently bad It is a trap where too many things as resolved through inner monologue when it might make the story more dynamic. I suffer from that big time where the character thinks and...

posted 7y ago by JP Chapleau‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:51:20Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33091
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar JP Chapleau‭ · 2019-12-08T07:51:20Z (almost 5 years ago)
## It's not inherently bad

It is a trap where too many things as resolved through inner monologue when it might make the story more dynamic. I suffer from that big time where the character thinks and thinks and thinks about stuff but does not do anything about it. My personal take is that it is not bad, but whenever you can have the character DO something that would prove the dialogue, it helps.

Keep it short whenever possible. Show, don't tell. And thinking about stuff has a bad tendency to have you tell, rather than show.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-02-07T14:00:56Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 1