I want to write a protagonist that thinks as I do; that is to say, without any inner monologue. I don't even think in images either. It's just abstract thoughts for me. If a place reminds me of my childhood home, I just know it does.
But is it possible to even convey this in text?
When I was younger I always thought all these internal dialogues that characters would have in books and movies were just a creative tool used to convey their thoughts. I didn't realize most people actually had them. And looking back now, I think it may be the only way to actually convey thoughts.
This also brings into the question of explicitly and implicitly stating thoughts. The former is obviously a case of inner dialogue, something like:
The door... it feels familiar somehow
But what about the latter? Is it just a matter of careful word choice to avoid implying an internal monologue? I'm not too sure, and I don't know if it's even possible to write a character like this, especially in text.
Apologies if this question is confusing. I'm not quite sure how to word everything here correctly.