This technique has been around since Shakespeare�s days but wasn�t defined until William James coined the term in Principles of Psychology in 1890. Encarta online defines stream of consciousness as: �A literary technique employed to evince subjective as well as objective reality. It reveals characters� feelings, thoughts, and actions, often following an associative rather than a logical sequence without commentary from the author.
If one were to say �stream of consciousness� to me in a free association game, the first author that comes to mind is James Joyce. And predictably, you�ll hear me groan as I think of all the times I�ve tackled Joyce�s Ulysses but never getting past the first hundred pages. But no discussion on stream of consciousness is complete without looking at a piece of his work, so I�m going to include a token Joyce passage:
Stephen, an elbow rested on the jagged granite, leaned his palm against his brow and gazed at the fraying edge of his shiny black coat sleeve. Pain, that was not yet the pain of love, fretted his heart. Silently, in a dream she had come to him after her death, her wasted body within its loose brown graveclothes giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her breath, that had bent upon him, mute reproachful, a faint odour of wetted ashes. Across the threadbare cuffedge he saw the sea hailed as a great sweet mother by the wellfed voice beside him. The ring of bay and skyline held a dull green mass of liquid. A bowl of white china had stood beside her deathbed holding the green sluggish bile which she had torn up from her rotting liver by fits of loud groaning and vomiting.
Basically, this passage is free associative thinking when Stephen observes Mulligan shaving. The past, present, and future have fused together without any delineation of where one stops or starts. I�m not going to get into an analysis of what this passage means or what the symbols represent. There are volumes written on the analysis of Joyce�s work. However, I�m going to direct you to looking at the details in this passage. He uses concrete nouns like granite, china, and bile. He touches the senses, moving from sight, sound, smell, and physical sensations.
Here�s a passage from Sylvia Plath�s The Bell Jar where in a fit of insomnia, she is thinking about another of Joyce�s works, Finnegan�s Wake, the subject of her proposed thesis.
. . . It felt dark and safe under there, but the mattress was not heavy enough.
It needed about a ton more weight to make me sleep.
Riverrun, past Eve and Adam�s from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs . . .
The thick book made an unpleasant dent in my stomach.
Riverrun, past Eve and Adam�s . . .
I thought the small letter at the start might mean that nothing ever really began all new, with a capital, but that it just flowed on from what came before. Eve and Adam�s was Adam and Eve, of course, but it probably signified something else as well.
Maybe it was a pub in Dublin.
Okay, before you go running off screaming and vowing never to read or attempt to use the stream of consciousness technique, let me tell you that I�ve given some extreme examples. It�s actually common in modern fiction, especially in romance, suspense, and science fiction novels.
The main use of stream of consciousness is in the interior monologue�a key for the reader to know about the character intimately or witnessing his experience first hand. Because we tend to think in sentence fragments, stream of consciousness doesn�t usually follow the rules of punctuation or syntax. Tag lines like �she thought� are abandoned. On the surface, stream of consciousness passages seem uncensored and free; however, as writers we have to control the stream of thought, so it flows logically and coherently, not losing the reader. The reader should be able to lose herself in the character�s thoughts, but not feel lost.
Use stream of consciousness for moments of indecision, waiting, contemplation, or in violent crisis. For instance, what goes through your character�s mind just before he opens that symbolic door? What does the 40-year-old woman think while she�s waiting in the obstetrician�s office? What goes through the minds of a character as she tries to compose a letter to the sister she hasn�t spoken to in ten years? What would a woman think as she�s fleeing from her husband who�s in a drunken rage? Including a stream of consciousness passage during the midst of high action can also give a slow motion effect and heighten tension.
Like any other literary technique, stream of consciousness has its drawbacks. If it�s overused, it could lessen the impact of action or you might lose the reader�s attention. Your reader might close your novel if you include long stream of consciousness passages of a despised character. But like all �rules,� there are exceptions. Suspense novels have been told through the thoughts of criminals, and they do well. Entire novels (like Joyce�s Ulysses and Plath�s The Bell Jar) have been published and won critical acclaim. So ultimately, it�s up to you, the author, how much or how little you employ this technique. If you are passionate about your characters and their stories, it will be apparent to your readers, no matter what techniques you use. The key is to make it not seem like a writing device.
The Exercise
Pull out one of your stories and find a scene where your character is in a moment of indecision, waiting, contemplation, or in the midst of a crisis. Get into the head of that character, and for ten or fifteen minutes, Freewrite what is going on in her head at that moment in the story. Don�t censor yourself at this point.
When the time is up, go back and circle any images or sensory details you�ve written. How did the surroundings affect the train of thought? Is there an echoing image or theme? When you go back and rewrite, expand on those images. Cross out anything that doesn�t follow logically, or move it where it does fit logically.
Or, try one of these scenarios, using the same process as described above:
� Character is waiting at a traffic light after his/her lover has just ended their relationship.
� Character is about to enter a restaurant where he/she is about to meet his/her mother for the first time since being abandoned as a child.
� Character is hiding from his/her attacker.
� Character is lying awake at 4 a.m.
Remember�at first don�t censor yourself. Approach it as you would a freewriting exercise. It�s okay to get silly or extreme. Have fun with it and let your character�s thoughts flow �
