Stream of consciousness is a narrative style that tries to capture a character’s thought process realistically. It’s an interior monologue, but it’s also more than that. Because it mimics the non-linear way our brains work, stream-of-consciousness narration includes much free association, looping repetitions, sensory observations, and strange (or even nonexistent) punctuation and syntax—all of which help us better understand a character’s psychological state and worldview. It’s meant to feel like you have dipped into the stream of the character’s consciousness—or like you’re a fly on the wall of their mind.

The term was first used by the psychologist William James in The Principles of Psychology (1890). As the psychological novel developed in the 20th century, some writers attempted to capture the total flow of their characters’ consciousness rather than limit themselves to rational thoughts. To represent the full richness, speed, and subtlety of the mind at work, the writer incorporates snatches of incoherent thought, ungrammatical constructions, and free association of ideas, images, and words at the pre-speech level.

Virginia Woolf is mainly well known for this narrative technique, along with some other modernist heavy hitters like James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Marcel Proust.