What's the proper way of formatting writing from a character in a novel?

Question

I'm writing a story that constantly shows what the characters are writing. I would like to know how to format that. Right now I'm doing it like this (please ignore the grammar, it is a rough draft):

The young women dressed as a nurse goes to the bar and orders a sandwich. After that, she check around looking for a sit. She finally decides to sit in one which is in front of the young man. He completely ignores that action and keeps writing. After some minutes, he finally stops to see what he has written.

Imaginary Interior Being Disorder. The patient loses contact with symbiosis and one-ness with nature and universe. Since he loses this connection, he doesn’t know what will happen if he dies, this makes the patient to be terrified of death. So he finally creates a invisible, eternal being to compensate that.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

See this question, since I think the same principle applies: What's a clear way to simulate web text in a story?

Essentially, block indent the text.

I would also avoid the italics, if possible. Too much of it, and it becomes a pain for the reader to follow.

Answer 2

For a sentence or a fragment of a sentence, quotation marks. For a few paragraphs, block indent. For substantial material, put it inline with a square-bracket explanation a few words in:

He completely ignores that action and keeps writing. After some minutes, he finally stops to see what he has written.

Imaginary Interior Being Disorder [it ran] The patient loses contact with symbiosis and one-ness with nature and universe. Since he loses this connection, he doesn’t know what will happen if he dies, this makes the patient to be terrified of death.

And as Craig said, be wary of italics. They quickly become tiresome to read.