![]() ![]() And they exist! Once More, with Feelingįor many writers and readers, text messages formatted plainly in the line of narrative fail to convey the feeling of a text. (Me) Why that one? I thought blue was out of the running.īetter solutions are called for. Writing out the speakers’ names can clarify who says what, but it’s clunky, like a transcript: However, without special treatment, and especially with group texts, readers can lose track of who’s texting, and (self-pubbers, listen up) if the staggered formatting is lost during publication, it will leave a mess. Mom was weird that way.Ĭonversations set off as a block can mimic the display of mobile apps by using staggered indent levels that position outgoing texts farther to the right than incoming texts: I texted Why that one? and Greta’s reply was instant: It was her fave. Short and infrequent exchanges, or those where the delivery medium is incidental, may simply be integrated into the narrative with action beats: When her phone finally chirped, the text was short: Joe’s at 10? Conversation Complicationsīack-and-forth messages between two or more texters present more of a challenge. The same treatment can be used in a novel, but because quotation marks are strongly associated with spoken words, text messages in fiction are often styled in italics or bold or a different font, whether run-in or set off as a block: In one notorious scam, the manager texted the horses’ names the day before the race in order of win, place, and show: “green fancy, dollop, stand by me.” This is standard practice for academic books and articles, reports, and other kinds of no-nonsense nonfiction: The Chicago WayĬMOS makes no special recommendation for formatting text messages in formal writing, more or less taking for granted that they will be treated the same as other quotations, either within quotation marks in line with the main text or set off as a block. So my aim today isn’t to decide the best way to format text messages in fiction, but to show how different stylings suit different kinds of work and to point out problems that might arise. And often, as is the case in this post, they are just one option among many that may suit the material. ![]() Sometimes, Chicago’s general guidelines already work just fine other times, they need a little noodge to sit comfortably on a page of fiction. In our Fiction+ series, we set out to help CMOS users adapt Chicago style to creative writing contexts. ![]()
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