How do you write internal dialogue?

Writing a story in my head comes easy. I know exactly what I want my characters to look like, act like, and how I want them to speak. I can see them clearly. I can see the space that they live in, the people around them. I know how they dress and what they like to eat for breakfast. Building their world is simple. Putting that world on paper to convey that to others is the tricky part.

I will admit, though I minored in writing many moons ago, my editing skills are not what they once were. While objectively I know where to use which mark of punctuation, and that my tenses should all agree, I don’t always adhere to that in my rush to get out a story. It almost seems that it should not be a thought, because we don’t go around speaking in proper English. It’s somewhat like taking a language in high school. What you are taught is classical, but what people actually speak is something different loosely based on the classical. For example, when I go back and read things I have written, I find I have to add contractions into my dialogue. I was trained to never use contractions. It sounds so unnatural not to have them. I was trained to write formal papers, not stories or books.

Dialogue in my head is easy. My characters have conversations all day long. I am never sure how to write it. Do you start each line new resulting in hundreds of paragraphs? And how does one show internal dialogue – the conversations we have with ourselves throughout the day. We all do this right? I’m not the only one who constantly has an inner voice going (in fact one of the few things that can get me in trouble is when I vocalize that inner voice lol). I will say that my inner voice has no sound – unlike my husband and at least one of my kids who can hear theirs? Apparently it’s a thing.

I watched a fascinating video today from a man explaining dyslexia. He was encouraging people to envision a star. Others were trying to do it by closing their eyes. He said he doesn’t have to. He can picture the star with his eyes open. He can flip it around, turn it inside out, and cut it in half without ever closing his eyes. He compared that to what people with dyslexia go through. When they see the words, the letters are taken apart, flipped inside out and rearranged. It’s just how their mind works. It helped me to understand dyslexia more. It also made me think of writing. How much do we spell out for readers. Do you make it as clear as the picture in your head or do you let them form their own visions, turning the words, like the star, inside out and upside down?

Also, I want to take a minute to give a shout out to the people who follow and like blogs from newbies. Edge of Humanity: https://edgeofhumanity.com/ Dirty Scifi Buddha https://dirtyscifibuddha.com/ Jolly Princess https://jollyprincesscom MyBookWorld24 https://mybookworld24.com/ Be Inspired https://empress2inspire.blog/2023/03/24/how-to-improve-your-chances-using-these-methods/ Andrea https://edoodless.wordpress.com/ Set in the Past https://setinthepast.wordpress.com/ and Charupe’s Dungeon https://www.buymeacoffee.com/. I see you all and I thank you. Go give them a follow. Their blogs are entertaining, helpful, and just a fun place to be!