Saxony Tarn: I enjoyed the internal dialogue. Good stuff! You really do know how to get into a character. I like Denethorsson. Nice touch.
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It should probably be noted that Tolkein apparently never got into the characters' inner thoughts much if at all. Did it get in the way of the action? Or did he want us to speculate (and therefore left us ample room) ?? Or did he just not find that as interesting as the action?
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Wow, ST, that's worthy of a thread all its own. I wonder if it's already been discussed on some thread over the last 2 years? Hmmmm.
Lily Tussle: There are tricks of the trade, I suppose, but I don't know that I'm any kind of expert. ST's advice seems to me to be as good as any. One thing I might suggest is that your characters are known for using different vocabulary sets, or if you draw the characters clearly enough, the kinds of things they say to themselves should be different enough from each other so the reader is clear.
Since Tolkien didn't get inside characters' heads much, it's hard to use him as an example. However, he did do something like it. I remember reading in the Two Towers how he comments omnisciently about the
nature of Sam's thinking, the kinds of tendencies he exhibited in terms of Gollum and Frodo. So that's another way.
As for my way, I have two brothers who are really different from each other; one strong, cool, in command, seeking adventure - the other weak, sensitive, self-pitying, wanting badly to measure up but not knowing how to; they even see the world differently; the strong one sees vivid colors, sees blue jays, crows, goldfinches, squirrels, etc.; whereas the younger weaker sees 'some bird', 'lots of trees', and the world is either black, white, or gray to him. This may seem a bit over the top, but I try to be careful how I describe it, but suggesting and evoking - that is, showing, rather than telling (as I'm doing here). [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
By the way, I think I'm going to stick with my strategy for interlacing, which is not very different from ST's. But I don't intend to become stuck to a day by day switchover. And where the action speeds up, the switchovers become more frequent. One thing that I think Tolkien didn't do, or need to, but should be done in general when using interlacing, is to tie the threads together at the climax and show the pattern that has been weaved in the denouement. That denouement part of it is the one that still escapes me.
So here's a new question which may actually be an old one - HOW DO YOU END A STORY? Here's the problem: it's simply not possible to tie up all loose strings. Even Tolkien had to let Frodo and Bilbo and Gandalf go over the sea without telling us what will happen to them. Thus, as my signature keeps reminding me, the Road goes ever on and on. So what governs which loose strings get tied up and which ones don't?
Happy Writing!