How do I invoke my right to remain silent?

Simply staying quiet is not enough. Courts have held that silence alone doesn't invoke the right — you have to assert it.

Say it clearly and without qualifiers. *I am invoking my right to remain silent. I don't want to answer questions.* Declarative sentences, not questions.

Then actually stop. The most common failure isn't the invocation — it's the conversation that continues afterward. People invoke and then explain why, or answer one more question, or make small talk that turns substantive. An invocation followed by continued voluntary talking undercuts itself.

Two additional points. If you've already been talking, you can invoke at any time and stop. And where the right to remain silent has been asserted, questioning must cease — though under certain conditions officers may later re-approach, which is one reason the request for counsel is generally the stronger move.