How to Denote Text Messages in a Story

[CaliforniaPassion]

What is the best way to denote a text exchange in a story? I would think quotation marks are meant for speech. It seems there should be a way of distinguishing a text. For one story I tried greater than-less than characters:

< outgoing text >

> incoming text <

I found out right away that these characters are used for formatting so I had to add the spaces. Anyone tried anything different? Any examples?

 

[ElectricBlue]

- I do this - after discovering that < and > will just cock up your text.

 

[MrPixel]

Others may have other specific ideas, but the gist around here, and what I do, is texting is simply handled as a conversation delimited by common quotes with leading narrative identifying it as a texted conversation. The only break with that particular convention I use is if the conversation is between more than two, then I precede each line with the person texting, like so...

Jack: "Going up the hill"
Jill: "Why?"
Rapunzel: "You forgot the pail!"
Jack: "Shit. Left it in Nantucket"
Jill:
Rapunzel: "Hopeless!"
Jill: "We still on?"
Jack: ""
Jill: "No you idiot. R"
Rapunzel:
Jill: Goody!

I'm still experimenting with emoticons and haven't quite cracked the nut of them making it through to a published story. Others have, and it's apparently done in unicode '&' tags.

 

[Voboy]

I just use italics.

I do it sparingly, as a rule, and I otherwise treat it exactly like normal dialogue; a long, "bullet-point-style" sequence of incoming and outgoing texts is boring to me.

 

[Bramblethorn]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/as-a-writer-how-do-you-write-text-messages-in-stories.1570913/

 

[onehitwanda]

I haven't settled on a single style, but these days I tend to use italics. And as Voboy said, they should be used sparingly - like garnish.

 

[NotWise]

I treat texts as dialog, and see no reason to do otherwise. I also don't quote large text exchanges.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I saw a story which used square brackets recently and decided I quite liked it.

[Hey, what u up to,] I typed.

I got a series of answers almost straight away. [Nothing. Wanna come over.][I'm still in bed.][Why not join me.]

[On my way.] I downed the last sip of coffee and headed to the car.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think it’s up to the author, the key thing being that it’s not confusing.

 

[Voboy]

I saw a story which used square brackets recently and decided I quite liked it.

Just one person's opinion, but that kind of thing would instantaneously cause me to nope out of that story. Especially if there were lengthy exchanges.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've used single quotes, whereas speech gets double quotes. Or just start each line with a dash.

But having some commentary or speech around the text convo makes it look less stilted, IMO.

 

[Emotional]

I have talked to a ton of professional editors, and there is no set way yet.

Here is how I personally do it.

Me: ‘Hey Lindsay, how are you?’

Lindsay: ‘I’m great, hope you don't mind I got your # from Mom.’

Me: ‘Why would I mind? I don't have any other beautiful women texting me.’

Lindsay: ********BLUSHING**********

Me: ‘HA HA, I bet you hear that all the time.’

Lindsay: ‘Sometimes, but it sounds better coming from you.’

Me: ‘Aweee, so what do I owe the pleasure?’

Lindsay: ‘I need a favor.’

Me: ‘Let me guess. You want some naked pics to show all your friends?’

Lindsay: ‘No!’

Lindsay: ‘Well maybe. But that’s not the favor I need right now.’

 

[Voboy]

I have talked to a ton of professional editors, and there is no set way yet.

Here is how I personally do it.

Me: ‘Hey Lindsay, how are you?’

Lindsay: ‘I’m great, hope you don't mind I got your # from Mom.’

Me: ‘Why would I mind? I don't have any other beautiful women texting me.’

Lindsay: ********BLUSHING**********

Me: ‘HA HA, I bet you hear that all the time.’

Lindsay: ‘Sometimes, but it sounds better coming from you.’

Me: ‘Aweee, so what do I owe the pleasure?’

Lindsay: ‘I need a favor.’

Me: ‘Let me guess. You want some naked pics to show all your friends?’

Lindsay: ‘No!’

Lindsay: ‘Well maybe. But that’s not the favor I need right now.’

Again, just one person's opinion, but...

a long, "bullet-point-style" sequence of incoming and outgoing texts is boring to me.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Just one person's opinion, but that kind of thing would instantaneously cause me to nope out of that story. Especially if there were lengthy exchanges.

Well, to me there's three overlapping issues with using text in stories

1) Texting isn't the most dramatic thing. I think most authors want to use it sparingly. On the other hand it's so ubiquitous that it feels unrealistic not to use it for young modern characters.

2) Whether to write down exactly what people type with abbreviations and no punctuation or to try and keep it in the more formal register of the surrounding prose. ( I've gotten round this before by noting that my heroine is quite fussy about typing, but you can't to that every single time)


3) How to denote it. I don't like using quote marks as they look like speech to me. Italics look like thought. Name plus colon ends up as just a script of long dialogue. To me the square brackets look like texts on the page and are easily separable from speech and thought. They've also just been sitting on the keyboard for the last fifty years without a purpose in fiction...

 

[SimonDoom]

This question has been raised several times in previous threads in this forum, and I strongly recommend searching for them and checking them out because I think you will find the answers interesting and helpful.

I have tried multiple methods for this, and I don't have one preferred solution. I think it depends on the story. These are my general guidelines and observations:

1. Be consistent. Adopt one system of handling text and stick with it in your story.
2. Be clear. As long as the reader understands what you're doing, the format doesn't matter that much, does it?
3. Keep it simple. Do the LEAST amount of formatting you can to make it clear that it is texting and who is doing the texting.
4. To my knowledge, there is no "publishing industry standard" for handling this issue. The Chicago Manual of Style does not insist upon one standard (my edition of it, anyway). So you have fairly wide freedom to pick the method of your choice. I don't know if the Brits have a standard.
5. I think it's perfectly OK to handle text like dialogue, like this: "Want to go to the movie?" he texted. "Sure," I texted back.
6. I don't recommend the method I described in point 5 above in two situations: a) where there's a ton of quick back and forth texting, in which case all the tagging will get annoying, or b) where you mix up dialogue and texting and you want to keep them clearly distinct.

 

[Voboy]

I often just describe it.

"I texted him to let him know I was on my way."

Good enough.

Again, the cardinal rule for me is sparingly.

 

[Emotional]

I often just describe it.

"I texted him to let him know I was on my way."

Good enough.

Again, the cardinal rule for me is sparingly.

That is your opinion

I use texts a ton in my stories. And they are well recieved.

In this day and age, texts are part of romance and relationships. Why shouldnt it be in stories?

 

[Rustyoznail]

I asked a question about using L/R justification so it appears like a phone.

Hi!

Hi, what's up?​

Not much. Asking dumb questions again.

Lol...​

Not sure how that'll look in a story.

 

[Voboy]

That is your opinion

As I've been very careful to say. Twice.

 

[alohadave]

I have some in a WIP, and I used:

Name: <blah blah blah>
Other Name: <blah back at you>

 

[alohadave]

I asked a question about using L/R justification so it appears like a phone.

Hi!

Hi, what's up?​

Not much. Asking dumb questions again.

Lol...​

Not sure how that'll look in a story.

In a narrow window, it could work. Full screen, it's too far apart to be clear. And for me, that amount of horizontal space makes tracking very difficult for me, but that is something that I personally have issues with, others may not have that issue.

Maybe use an offset and keep them left justified like so:

Hi!
Hi, what's up?
Not much. Asking dumb questions again.
Lol...

Edit: And of course HTML strips out extra whitespace, so it looks like there's nothing there. Options are limited with what Lit will render on a story page.

 

[NotWise]

That is your opinion

I use texts a ton in my stories. And they are well recieved.

In this day and age, texts are part of romance and relationships. Why shouldnt it be in stories?

I use texts in most of my stories, but I rarely write extended conversations by text. That's partly because, while I text far more than I use email or phone, real life rarely calls for lengthy text exchanges.

Formatting is something else. Why do so many writers think they need to create some unique typography for text messages? Do you do the same thing for phone calls? What about other ways people communicate one-on-one? Do they all need some unique presentation?

Do you think the readers need the typography? Of is It just the writers who need it?

 

[oneagainst]

I stuck with first initial, then colon, then text. Need to also look at the contents of the text since people talk different to texting. The format allows for you to break out into exposition and then back in again, e.g.:

The next day, Anya messaged me mid-morning out of the blue.

A: Can you come here now?

I was in a meeting that was just wrapping up. I messaged back.

H: Sure. What's up?

A: Just come now

I stared at the words. They made me uneasy.

 

[Handley_Page]

What is the best way to denote a text exchange in a story? I would think quotation marks are meant for speech. It seems there should be a way of distinguishing a text. For one story I tried greater than-less than characters:

< outgoing text >

> incoming text <

I found out right away that these characters are used for formatting so I had to add the spaces. Anyone tried anything different? Any examples?

I like to Italic, myself.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I use texts in most of my stories, but I rarely write extended conversations by text. That's partly because, while I text far more than I use email or phone, real life rarely calls for lengthy text exchanges.

Formatting is something else. Why do so many writers think they need to create some unique typography for text messages? Do you do the same thing for phone calls? What about other ways people communicate one-on-one? Do they all need some unique presentation?

It's not de rigeur but it's not at all unusual in commercially published fiction these days. Almost every commercially published e-book in my collection has some sort of typographical tweaks to mark out different forms of communication, e.g.:










All my Pratchetts are in hardcopy form, but he was well known for using small caps to evoke one particular character.

Do you think the readers need the typography? Of is It just the writers who need it?

As a reader, I don't need it, but I find it useful when done appropriately.