I think you’re probably here because you think you can learn to decrease your reliance on the word think in your writing. Am I right? I think I can help.

Effective Formatting Removes the Need for Think

In the old days when a character had a thought, the writer might have penned something like this:

#1. Aaron sighed. “The sins of the fathers,” he thought, “always return to haunt their children.” His fist drove into the wall and created a gaping hole.

Some writers still use this type of construction.

However, quotation marks, which usually introduce dialogue, can be misinterpreted if you also use them for internal monologue.

The previous example doesn’t become clear until a person reaches he thought. Why confuse your readers?

Other writers might punctuate like this:

#2. Aaron sighed. The sins of the fathers, he thought, always return to haunt their children. His fist drove into the wall and created a gaping hole.

Removing the quotation marks clarifies somewhat. However, a reader might expect a narrative statement in the second sentence.

Italics can obviate the need for he thought.

#3. Aaron sighed. The sins of the fathers always return to haunt their children. His fist drove into the wall and created a gaping hole.

How many instances of think and its inflections could you remove with the italics approach?

Be careful, though. Overuse of italics distracts readers. Longer passages can be handled like this:

#4. Aaron sighed. The sins of the fathers always returned to haunt their children. His fist drove into the wall and created a gaping hole.

The preceding excerpt reports Aaron’s thoughts indirectly. Because the passage is written from his point of view, readers will understand that the second sentence reflects his personal opinion.

This is the best approach for anything longer than a sentence or two.

Review All Your Verbs, Not Just Think

Sometimes your character needs to think without revealing specific thoughts.

#1. The teacher sat in the chair and thought gloomily while she graded papers. [13 words]

The sentence is lukewarm and uses a much-maligned adverb. Does the next one work better?

#2. The teacher slumped in the chair and brooded while she graded papers. [12 words]

Or consider this version:

#3. The teacher perched on her chair and daydreamed while she graded papers. [12 words]

Active verbs paint different pictures and strengthen writing.

Dialogue Is an Effective Tool

Well-written dialogue breathes new life into a piece if you choose different words for think. Consider these sentences:

#1. “I think the victim died from an overdose.”

#2. “I posit the victim died from an overdose.”

The first sentence could have been said by just about anyone. The second is more likely to have come from a forensic anthropologist like Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones.

Never, Never, Never; Uh, Uh; No, No

What’s wrong with the next sentence?

#1. You’re not my boss, John thought to himself.

Answer: Think is not a reflexive verb. Who or what else would John be thinking to? The wife who just nagged him about mowing the lawn? His big toe?

Chop the last part:

#2. You’re not my boss, John thought.

Direct Replacements

The following verbs and phrasal verbs can replace think. Know your characters, and choose words that suit the narrative.

A and B
analyze, apperceive, apply one’s mind, appraise, appreciate, ascertain, assume, be certain of, be convinced of, be credulous, be of the opinion, believe, brainstorm, brood, buy

C
calculate, cerebrate, chew over, cogitate, comprehend, conceive, concentrate, conceptualize, conclude, concoct, conjecture, conjure up, consider, construe, contemplate, contrive, cook up

D and E
daydream, debate, decipher, deduce, deem, deliberate, demur, determine, devise, digest, dissect, divine, dwell upon, evaluate, envisage, envision, entertain a thought, establish, estimate, evaluate, evoke, examine, excogitate, expect, extrapolate

F and G
fabricate, fancy, fantasize, fathom, feel, figure, find, focus, form an opinion, form ideas, formulate, free-associate, fret, gather, gauge, get, get an idea, give credence to, glean, grasp, guess, guesstimate

H
hallucinate, hanker, hash over, hatch, have a flash, have a hunch, have a notion, have a vision, have in mind, have no doubt, hazard a guess, hope, hypothesize

I to O
ideate, imagine, infer, intellectualize, interpret, introspect, intuit, invent, judge, know, maintain, mean, meditate, mull, muse, opine, originate

P
perceive, percolate, perpend, philosophize, picture, plan, plot, ponder, posit, postulate, predicate, predict, presume, presuppose, propose, propound, puzzle over

R
ratiocinate, rationalize, read, realize, reason, recall, reckon, recognize, reflect, regard, rehash, repine, resolve, ruminate

S
scheme, scrutinize, sense, sort out, speculate, stargaze, stew, suppose, surmise, suspect, sweat over, syllogize

T to W
take in, theorize, thresh out, toy with an idea, trust, twig, understand, use one’s head, view, visualize, waffle, weigh, wonder, woolgather, work out, worry