# Interactions which are 100% telepathic?



## PenCat (Mar 20, 2016)

In a story I'm writing, Fantasy genre, there are characters with advanced telepathic powers. No big shock there.

I'm grappling with the idea of how the reader learns that ideas were expressed in "conversations" which are 100% telepathic. So far, I've come up with having the "narrator" explain it, or having one of the characters explain to another that communication happened this way.

I'm concerned that, while purely telepathic interactions are appropriate and even necessary to my story, it can either leave the reader out, or I'd risk the danger of being trite, contrived, if I pick the wrong way to show that telepathy was how ideas were exchanged.

Any thoughts on the matter? Thank you!


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## LOLeah (Mar 20, 2016)

I think it depends on how important the origin and/or mechanism of their telepathy is to the story. And every reader is different, so for some, you could jump right in to thought communication indicated with italic text and the reader will understand immediately what is happening. For others, a little explanation would help them. 

I've been reading a really good fantasy series (The Moontide Quartet by David Hair) in which the characters are able to communicate telepathically. The author does an excellent job of showing what it feels like to have your mind "touched" by another. He makes a point to describe it in detail, but with only a sentence here and there in the series when characters are communicating. Over time you have a whole picture.


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## Kyle R (Mar 20, 2016)

PenCat said:


> In a story I'm writing, Fantasy genre, there are characters with advanced telepathic powers. No big shock there.
> 
> I'm grappling with the idea of how the reader learns that ideas were expressed in "conversations" which are 100% telepathic. So far, I've come up with having the "narrator" explain it, or having one of the characters explain to another that communication happened this way.
> 
> ...



I like the italics approach, while using the narration to explain the telepathy to the reader (ideally, without being too blunt about it). :encouragement:

For example:

Jerod's voice warbled through Sophie's mind. "_I'm telling you, these things never work out._"

But Sophie just frowned and snapped her cellphone shut. "Get out of my head, Jerod. I mean it." Going on a date with a stranger was already hard enough. But going on a date with a stranger _while_ her annoying, telepathic friend tagged along, sifting through her thoughts? Well, that was just too damn much. "If I so much as even _sense_ you peeking in on me—"

"_Yeah, yeah,_" Jerod said, his southern accent twanging through her skull. "_I'm not interested in your stupid date, anyway._"

"Good," Sophie said. Although it didn't _feel_ good. Somehow, even winning an argument with Jerod still felt like losing.


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## bazz cargo (Mar 20, 2016)

_Italics would be my choice._

However... would telepaths use words? What about pictures?


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 20, 2016)

I would think so Bazz. imagery should be easy for advanced telepaths- such as sharing visual memories rather than explaining to the other telepath about an event.


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 20, 2016)

Less is more, don't worry about trite. It is the telepathy that counts, not the hows and whys. Think of the film 'Big', or any other story where something fantastic is pivotal to it, can you actually remember how the boy came to be big, does it matter? No, the film is about him being big, getting there is simply a necessary step.

"How did you know that?"
"Telepathy, yes, we really do it"
"How?"
"Don't ask"

Keep it simple, the reader wants to get on with the story, and what you don't explain can't be faulted.


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## Jigawatt (Mar 20, 2016)

I like the italics idea, as well. But I'm not sure you need to put thoughts inside quotation marks. I see a risk of thought conversation getting confused with speech conversation using the quotation marks, and a risk of thought conversation getting confused with narration without the quotation marks. Maybe something in between such as a single quotation mark:


Linda was not aware that Tom and Toby were telepaths.

"How about pizza for dinner?" asked Tom, then thought, '_Anything is better than Linda's health food crap that looks like jellyfish and seaweed and tastes like gutter scum.'_

"What kind of pizza?" said Linda.

"Jellyfish and seaweed pizza?" said Toby, then glanced at Tom, '_Come on, you know you like it_.'

Linda and Tom looked at Toby and grimaced. '_You're an ass,' _thought Tom.

"Jellyfish and seaweed? Where did you get that from?" said Linda.

_'Blame me and you won't live to see tomorrow_,' thought Tom.


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## Yumi Koizumi (Mar 20, 2016)

bazz cargo said:


> _Italics would be my choice._
> 
> However... would telepaths use words? What about pictures?



I was thinking the same thing. Not my genre, but if 2 'people' are in visual proximity, one could look at something they both feel the same way about, and when one looks at the other, the other would nod slowly. I mean, if you describe what it would _look_ like to a non-telepath (_telepathic_?) to watch 2 or more telepaths (_telepathics_?), then I as a reader wouldn't need to imagine _being_ a telepath... I guess its all about suspending disbelief in the most painless fashion... 

If, on the other hand, you are sometimes writing AS one with such powers, then I wouldn't mind if again a combined memory or emotion was described, and a reaction of the other was noted. I mean, if it is always traditional dialogue, then what purpose does the telepathy play in the story? Maybe it is only used when necessary or required? 

_As their eyes met they both knew it would never happen.

_Tough question, but lots of ideas here from those in this genre already!


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## cinderblock (Mar 21, 2016)

Yumi Koizumi said:


> I was thinking the same thing. Not my genre, but if 2 'people' are in visual proximity, one could look at something they both feel the same way about, and when one looks at the other, the other would nod slowly. I mean, if you describe what it would _look_ like to a non-telepath (_telepathic_?) to watch 2 or more telepaths (_telepathics_?), then I as a reader wouldn't need to imagine _being_ a telepath... I guess its all about suspending disbelief in the most painless fashion...
> 
> If, on the other hand, you are sometimes writing AS one with such powers, then I wouldn't mind if again a combined memory or emotion was described, and a reaction of the other was noted. I mean, if it is always traditional dialogue, then what purpose does the telepathy play in the story? Maybe it is only used when necessary or required?
> 
> ...



Which makes me wonder what the future of writing will be when we figure out a way to transcribe our direct thoughts into a medium. Or even, when robots learn how to write in the future and can crank out a million books a second. Will we even read then? Or just download it into our brains like downloading an MP3? Or are we all just gonna be one superorganism in sync with all information there is... I guess we like to think books are immortal, but I think it'll be an antiquated medium a hundred years from now. This won't be the way we write in the future. It'll be like Atari games... a very shallow experience, compared to the newly discovered ways of conveying feelings in the future.


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## aj47 (Mar 21, 2016)

Writing is how we talk to the future.  It will not ever go out of fashion.  Maybe we'll do other things, in addition to writing...like we do now with video and audio, but writing hasn't died yet.


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## Bishop (Mar 21, 2016)

As said. Italics.


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## PenCat (Mar 21, 2016)

astroannie said:


> Writing is how we talk to the future.  It will not ever go out of fashion.  Maybe we'll do other things, in addition to writing...like we do now with video and audio, but writing hasn't died yet.



yeah, this feels solid to me. there's this fantasy that the perfect way of being is off in the future, but we fail, as in the case of writing, to see that some things are already in their perfect state, and have been so LONG before we were born.


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## Yumi Koizumi (Mar 22, 2016)

Like @astroannie said, or to paraphrase her, there is the writing itself (on paper, in a document), and there is the _writing_. 

So if you take the medium away (paper, spoken, smoke-signals, ...) you are still writing" if you think of writing as communicating (in it's widest context).

So perhaps one form of communication is 'telling' a story to someone. How the story is told changes based on the medium. Cave drawings told the same story people would tell in spoken word. The story didn't change, so weren't they all "writing"?

If telepathy is used at some point, it won't be because something else was dropped at the same time. Just like today we have books on tape, paper, and even stories only existing in the minds of memorizing orators.


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## Yumi Koizumi (Mar 22, 2016)

PenCat said:


> ...there's this fantasy that the perfect way of being is off in the future, ...



Great examples include books like Fahrenheit 451, Brazil, Logan's Run movies like Soylant Green, The Fifth Element and the cartoon Futurama. I _love _a future that is trying so hard to be utopian, and failing just as miserably as we are today!


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## bdcharles (Mar 22, 2016)

PenCat said:


> In a story I'm writing, Fantasy genre, there are characters with advanced telepathic powers. No big shock there.
> 
> I'm grappling with the idea of how the reader learns that ideas were expressed in "conversations" which are 100% telepathic. So far, I've come up with having the "narrator" explain it, or having one of the characters explain to another that communication happened this way.
> 
> ...



i suppose there are a number of ways. You could state it explicitly ("Wow!" he thought at her. "That was close!") but that's quite cliched and clunky (Flash Gordon excepted of course  ) or use italics as others have said; eg:


Yan reached over to touch her thigh. _Zelda_, he said. _Should we be doing this?
_
_They'll never find out. _She laid her hand over his. _Don't look at me, don't look - _


The problem that might arise there is that readers might then get confused if you use the same style for internal dialogue; and it's probably been done, it's nothing too new. Failing that you could really amp up the strangeness of telepathy by likening it to something else and being quite detailed about it:

Suddenly the lights dimmed and began to swim and undulate like a shimmering river and she knew someone was trying to hail her on what Zander referred to as "the less conventional channels".

Su Li, came a voice. Su Li, can you come here for a moment?

_Niall_. What did he want now? What is it? her words sped up the stream like recalcitrant salmon.




Personally I always liked the idea of expressing unusual communication in a mish mash of reported speech, narration, internal dialogue, good old body language, all-out grammar abuse, missing out the speech marks, and offset it with the blundering introduction of speech marks to drop us out of the wonderful world of telepathy and back into the mundanity of talky-talk; for example:


Charlie walked into the room, and Alice's eyes immediately lit up.

Look at the way he walks, she said. Bob, how come you never walk like that?

Bob protested that he had, not so long ago. But Alice p'shawed him silent. That gait, she purred, that lolloping, antelope stride.

Bob rolled his eyes. Alice didn't need to look at him to sense his - his what? His jealousy. She shifted in her seat. Beside her, Bob pinged a fingernail against the side of his champagne glass, and she felt suddenly sad. Bob, she said, I - 

"Alice!" Charlie's beaming smile cut her off. "How are you?"


Hope this helps. I've actually quite enjoyed answering your question!


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## Blue (Mar 22, 2016)

I agree with the use of italics if you wish to convey important information, or almost dialogue. Although, the use of imagery would perhaps be more realistic? Obviously, I have no idea how others think, but for me, I don't tend to think in words, you know? More images.
So, if a character was to tell another character about events that happened telepathically I'd try and use lots of imagery and flashes of those events, as if that character was _showing_ the other what happened rather than _telling_​.


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## Newman (Mar 24, 2016)

PenCat said:


> In a story I'm writing, Fantasy genre, there are characters with advanced telepathic powers. No big shock there.
> 
> I'm grappling with the idea of how the reader learns that ideas were expressed in "conversations" which are 100% telepathic. So far, I've come up with having the "narrator" explain it, or having one of the characters explain to another that communication happened this way.
> 
> ...



I don't think it's an issue at all. Reminds me of Peep Show and how their inner thoughts drive the story: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387764/ ; I'd try and get a hold of some of their scripts...


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## Jack of all trades (Mar 26, 2016)

If italics is used for thoughts, then perhaps italics within quotes to represent directed thoughts. And keep in mind emotion sharing, as telepathy would probably include empathy.


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## FireofDarkness (May 9, 2018)

I didn't know if this forum was still active... but I thought I'd try.
Many of you have given great advice, but I have questions for my story too. How do you separate share thoughts (telepathy) and private thoughts vs speech?
I've been using quotation marks for speech and private thoughts: "..." he said/he thought.
And using italics for short flashbacks, foreign words/magical words, & telepathic speech (a rare trait). I'm just trying to make sure it's simple for the reader...(btw story is 3rd person, limited omniscient)Thanks!​


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## Jack of all trades (May 9, 2018)

FireofDarkness said:


> I didn't know if this forum was still active... but I thought I'd try.
> Many of you have given great advice, but I have questions for my story too. How do you separate share thoughts (telepathy) and private thoughts vs speech?
> I've been using quotation marks for speech and private thoughts: "..." he said/he thought.
> And using italics for short flashbacks, foreign words/magical words, & telepathic speech (a rare trait). I'm just trying to make sure it's simple for the reader...(btw story is 3rd person, limited omniscient)Thanks!​



I suggest : 

Italics without quotes for private thoughts. 

Italics with quotes for 'sent' thoughts (part of a telepathic conversation). 

Occasionally the sent thoughts would probably be a kind of short hand. An image of a pizza or the like.

Good luck with your project!


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## silvafilho (May 9, 2018)

Robin Hobb's The Assassin Apprentice features lots of telephatic conversations and I'm checking on her last book and she does use italics. Italics might get cumbersome and menacing, IMO, if you crowd many and lengthy telepathic dialogues in succession.


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## bdcharles (May 9, 2018)

silvafilho said:


> Robin Hobb's The Assassin Apprentice features lots of telephatic conversations and I'm checking on her last book and she does use italics. Italics might get cumbersome and menacing, IMO, if you crowd many and lengthy telepathic dialogues in succession.



She also uses different verbs (namely Skill and to a lesser degree, Wit) to help differentiate, and goes into some detail about those forms of telepathy, so you know they are not that easy to do, therefore they won't crop up absolutely everywhere.

But she's great, isn't she?  She liked a tweet of mine the other day. And by the other day I mean about 6 months ago hashtag stillbuzzing


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## silvafilho (May 9, 2018)

Yeah, she is a bit more than great. I discovered her only on 2016 (I live in Brazil and Fantasy is coming slowly to major editors) and I read like 17 books in 12 months. Probably my favorite series of all time. And she does a great job with the Skill and the Wit.


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## Theglasshouse (May 9, 2018)

That's interesting. Telepathic assassins. That's one very big reversal of a cliche. I read the demolished man a long time ago, so that sounds interesting to read.

Read the demolished man if you want to read the first hugo award winner and it has telepathy and science fiction. It was one of those books that made me want to write science fiction.

Now I feel like writing a short story on a telepath.


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## Ralph Rotten (May 9, 2018)

PenCat said:


> In a story I'm writing, Fantasy genre, there are characters with advanced telepathic powers. No big shock there.
> 
> I'm grappling with the idea of how the reader learns that ideas were expressed in "conversations" which are 100% telepathic. So far, I've come up with having the "narrator" explain it, or having one of the characters explain to another that communication happened this way.
> 
> ...






I would start with the character getting their first dose of telepathic comms, and talk about their feelings about it.  Maybe tell how it was a lot like being stuffed in a closet with someone, where you were so close you could hear their breathing, feel their presence, take in their scent, feel their very inflections.  Then talk about how it took a minute for the character to realize that they had not actually heard words, but emotion so pointed and precise that they were able to take away very specific meaning from the thought.  

Set the stage by talking about how the FNG feels about using these psychic abilities, that would give your readers something to relate to.


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## moderan (May 10, 2018)

Cordwainer Smith called such conversation 'spieking' and 'hiering' and was the master of such discourse. Alfred Bester had an entire society of telepaths and concocted a murder mystery in the middle of it.
I would read and absorb those things before I set foot on the telepath path.


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## Ralph Rotten (May 11, 2018)

Didn't Heinlein do a story with some telepathy in it, and the hero talked about how strange it felt?


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## moderan (May 11, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> Didn't Heinlein do a story with some telepathy in it, and the hero talked about how strange it felt?


He did several. Time For the Stars I think, is the one you're referring to. It's been a while. Beyond This Horizon is another.


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