I'm just wondering about expression of thoughts in writing. I've been looking online and so far I've learned that italics may be used in place of quotation marks but I've also heard that either can become tiresome over the course of a 300 page+ novel. I'd like a few opinions on what is generally preferred. I also have a second part to this topic and that is paragraph structure of these thoughts. Should a new paragraph be started like in the case of dialogue or should thoughts flow in the paragraph naturally. A few sites have actually mentioned indentation as a way other than italics or quotation marks to identify thought but they also warned of excessive repetition when thoughts are used consistantly throughtout. It was also suggested that indented thoughts can lead to confusion as to where paragraphs begin and end when multiple paragraphs contain indented thought. Please help me clarify this. It's really bothering me.