Is it acceptable not to use inverted commas to show characters' thoughts? Like this:

Oh, thought Knownowt, I'm asking such a dull question.

rather than this:

"Well," thought Knownowt, "I hope nobody minds."

Yes!

Wonderful- thank you!

Frances is right, modern practice is to not put those in quotes, on the grounds that it confuses it with actual speech. You will find it in more old-fashioned typesetting, though.

Emma

A common form of introducing character's thoughts or recollections is to write them in italics. I do it all the time.

Oh, thought Knownowt, I'm asking such a dull question.

JB

I've seen that, but I use italics for when someone's remembering something said/read before, so it would be confusing to do both.

In the end it'll be your publisher's house style that determines this kind of thing, so it doesn't matter terribly.

Emma