Writing online dialogue

mr ploppy · 05-02-2011, 10:45 AM

Is there an accepted way of writing online dialogue, like ICQ or Messenger? Do you put it in normal quotes and use he typed, she read, etc? Or put it in all caps, use a different font, add extra space around it? Something else?

netseeker · 05-02-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Is there an accepted way of writing online dialogue, like ICQ or Messenger?

I don't know, i just can tell you what i'm doing. I've never heard of a special way for online dialogues...

If there exists indeed an "an accepted way" then i would like to know that too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Do you put it in normal quotes and use he typed, she read, etc?

Yes, i use normal font and normal quotes with as few "he typed|she read" as possible...just like a normal dialogue.

queentess · 05-02-2011, 03:07 PM

mr ploppy: Is there an accepted way of writing online dialogue, like ICQ or Messenger?
queentess: I'm not sure if I've seen this in print before or not.
mr ploppy: Do you put it in normal quotes and use he typed, she read, etc?
queentess: I would use as few of "s/he typed" as possible. I could get annoying.
mr ploppy: Or put it in all caps, use a different font, add extra space around it? Something else?
queentess: Depending on how you wanted it to look, you could actually type the "conversation" as it would appear in an IM client. Perhaps with a couple line breaks between the regular text and the conversation.

mr ploppy · 05-02-2011, 03:47 PM

Probably complicating things a bit, but I also want to have 2 people in the same room having a "normal" conversation while the ICQ is going on.

ATDrake · 05-02-2011, 04:07 PM

Perhaps use a monospace font for the typed conversation and regular quote style for the spoken one?

mr ploppy · 05-02-2011, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Perhaps use a monospace font for the typed conversation and regular quote style for the spoken one?

That's what I was thinking, plus something like Queentess (though I would need quite short screen names for that). Can you have more than one font in a Kindle file or would that just work for epubs?

queentess · 05-02-2011, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Perhaps use a monospace font for the typed conversation and regular quote style for the spoken one?

I like this idea a lot. I think (I could be mistaken) that Stephen King used this in his book Misery to distinguish between his story the story written by the protagonist.

netseeker · 05-02-2011, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Can you have more than one font in a Kindle file

No, mobi doesn't support font embedding afaik. Though, you could try using font-family: monospace as mentioned here in the calibre conversion forum.

05-02-2011, 10:45 AM	#1
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	Writing online dialogue Is there an accepted way of writing online dialogue, like ICQ or Messenger? Do you put it in normal quotes and use he typed, she read, etc? Or put it in all caps, use a different font, add extra space around it? Something else?

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05-02-2011, 03:07 PM	#3
queentess Reading is sexy Posts: 1,303 Karma: 544517 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: none	mr ploppy: Is there an accepted way of writing online dialogue, like ICQ or Messenger? queentess: I'm not sure if I've seen this in print before or not. mr ploppy: Do you put it in normal quotes and use he typed, she read, etc? queentess: I would use as few of "s/he typed" as possible. I could get annoying. mr ploppy: Or put it in all caps, use a different font, add extra space around it? Something else? queentess: Depending on how you wanted it to look, you could actually type the "conversation" as it would appear in an IM client. Perhaps with a couple line breaks between the regular text and the conversation.

05-02-2011, 03:47 PM	#4
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	Probably complicating things a bit, but I also want to have 2 people in the same room having a "normal" conversation while the ICQ is going on.

05-02-2011, 04:07 PM	#5
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Perhaps use a monospace font for the typed conversation and regular quote style for the spoken one?

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