- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Sometimes, in fiction, you come across a case where the viewpoint character thinks something, in italics, as normal. You're used to reading the story, you parse it well enough, and, in fact, it's not even formatted like speech! Why, that would sound ridiculous if spoken aloud!
And then, the narration describes how those surrounding the viewpoint character begin responding to that thought, and the character asks the now-standard question: "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Has anybody ever actually had this happen? I don't mean in fiction, I mean in reality. Have you ever thought something, been so certain that you kept it within your own head that you'd swear to that in court, only to then realize when other people react that you actually spoke aloud? For the purposes of this question, I don't mean cases when you've been concussed, delirious, or otherwise impaired. Obviously, that can wreck one's ability to maintain an internal monologue. No, I'm talking about cases where, unforced by extraordinary circumstance, your brain's insides become your mouth's outsides, and you don't even realize until somebody else starts giving you weird looks.
I ask because I keep seeing this in fiction, and for the life of me, I don't get it. It's never happened to me. I've never known it to happen to anybody. Am I an edge case? Are other writers simply experiencing something I'm not? If it is something which people frequently experience, is there anything about it I should keep in mind, portraying it in fiction, or is the above case pretty much exactly how it goes? To my eyes, this is always jarring and weird, but I keep seeing it happening. That suggests that I've missed something, somewhere along the line.
And then, the narration describes how those surrounding the viewpoint character begin responding to that thought, and the character asks the now-standard question: "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Has anybody ever actually had this happen? I don't mean in fiction, I mean in reality. Have you ever thought something, been so certain that you kept it within your own head that you'd swear to that in court, only to then realize when other people react that you actually spoke aloud? For the purposes of this question, I don't mean cases when you've been concussed, delirious, or otherwise impaired. Obviously, that can wreck one's ability to maintain an internal monologue. No, I'm talking about cases where, unforced by extraordinary circumstance, your brain's insides become your mouth's outsides, and you don't even realize until somebody else starts giving you weird looks.
I ask because I keep seeing this in fiction, and for the life of me, I don't get it. It's never happened to me. I've never known it to happen to anybody. Am I an edge case? Are other writers simply experiencing something I'm not? If it is something which people frequently experience, is there anything about it I should keep in mind, portraying it in fiction, or is the above case pretty much exactly how it goes? To my eyes, this is always jarring and weird, but I keep seeing it happening. That suggests that I've missed something, somewhere along the line.