How to include text exchanges in stories

[Sinstories]

Planning a story that includes a couple that meets online and a large part of their relationship takes place by text. I can't figure out how to write the text parts. Trying to write it like dialog seems like it would get clunky.

Any ideas?

 

[RejectReality]

It does feel like it would be that way, but it's really the best way to go about it.

Just use dialogue tags to denote that the conversation is taking place via text, and you can mix that up a little by putting some narrative in there about the POV character fiddling with their phone or something.

So long as readers have enough cues to know where the text conversation starts and stops, they do just fine without any odd formatting. Since it's 1-on-1, you can eliminate a lot of tags in the middle of long conversations. Readers know that every time you change lines, you're changing speakers as a standard convention. Drop in a dialogue tag every once in a while as a sort of bookmark, and it will all be good.

 

[sr71plt]

It is dialogue. So the question is how best to render it as some form of written dialogue. There's a new Chicago Manual of Style out and I don't know if it has included guidance on cyberspace text yet (it should), as I don't have a copy (and I don't plan to buy a copy at this time in my life). By the previous CMS, though, it's the same as a correspondence letter, so it should be indented (CMS 13.33). Lit. formatting might not like that, as it doesn't support indenting.

I'd just state before the first time or two you use it that it's e-mails (or whatever), put a slug of the name of the sender in front of it (e.g., Mary: "Send me one more e-mail like that, Creep, and I'll slash the tires on your Mustang.") and put each separate texting in a separate paragraph.

 

[HisArpy]

When I do texts in a story I change the font to Courier and use Guillemet marks (these things - < >) instead of quotation marks. I also don't use any characters identifiers as to who is doing/saying what. Instead of:

"Blah blah blah." Jill cut him off rudely in the middle of a sentence.
"Hey," Jack complained. "You didn't interrupt Janet."

I just let the reader follow the flow of the texts, and who sent them, from the story.

As an example:

Sharon grabbed her phone to send Jim a text about whether they were going out or staying home that evening.
<Hey, we home for dinner or out?>
<Home.>
<K.>

Doing it this way is simple and gets the point across that it's texting rather than spoken dialog or narrative. Whether it agrees with the style manual or not I don't care.

 

[sr71plt]

Lit. let's you vary the font (a practice that isn't supported by the publishing industry, incidentally)? Can you cite a Lit. story that uses varied fonts?

Later: I didn't find that done in either of your stories posted to Lit.

 

[RejectReality]

No, you can't change the font on Lit.

Using angle brackets can come back to haunt you as well, because they're the enclosure for HTML. It could easily be knee-jerk rejected for HTML. It's even possible to accidentally create a genuine HTML tag where you didn't want one and bugger up your formatting.

I've posted a few utilizing some HTML special character angle brackets in place of quotes, but after looking back at them later, I decided it was just too jarring. I recently posted one of those stories elsewhere, and I went back to quote marks.

 

[ElectricBlue]

No, you can't change the font on Lit.

Using angle brackets can come back to haunt you as well, because they're the enclosure for HTML. It could easily be knee-jerk rejected for HTML. It's even possible to accidentally create a genuine HTML tag where you didn't want one and bugger up your formatting.

I've posted a few utilizing some HTML special character angle brackets in place of quotes, but after looking back at them later, I decided it was just too jarring. I recently posted one of those stories elsewhere, and I went back to quote marks.

Copy that.

I used < text text > in one story to designate email corro, and it worked. I used the same technique in my most recent story and lost the text completely - luckily only a sentence, but enough that I had to edit and resubmit.

Actually, thinking about the recent story, I'm pretty sure <space text text space> actually does work OK. Omit the spaces, and it creates html.

 

[RejectReality]

Far too easy to miss a tap of the spacebar, and too easy to miss it during review, though.

If you're attached to it, I'd suggest doing a find/replace and changing all the < to < and > to >. It will render the same, but eliminates the possibility of the brackets being interpreted as part of an HTML tag.

You directly replace the brackets with those codes in the text of the story.

<This is a text message>

will render as

<This is a text message>

Should also show up in preview that way.

Copy that.

I used < text text > in one story to designate email corro, and it worked. I used the same technique in my most recent story and lost the text completely - luckily only a sentence, but enough that I had to edit and resubmit.

Actually, thinking about the recent story, I'm pretty sure <space text text space> actually does work OK. Omit the spaces, and it creates html.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Far too easy to miss a tap of the spacebar, and too easy to miss it during review, though.

If you're attached to it, I'd suggest doing a find/replace and changing all the < to < and > to >. It will render the same, but eliminates the possibility of the brackets being interpreted as part of an HTML tag.

You directly replace the brackets with those codes in the text of the story.

<This is a text message>

will render as

<This is a text message>

Should also show up in preview that way.

Thanks, will try to remember this!

 

[Bramblethorn]

If you're aiming for commercial publication, or want to practice with for that, check your intended publishers' style guides.

If you're not, then you have a bit of leeway. This is a new enough thing that most readers won't have strong notions about how it should be done. Just make sure that whatever you pick is consistent, doesn't break the site's HTML, and doesn't confuse readers.

I like to make a visual distinction between written and spoken conversation, so I tend to use italics. FWIW, here's how I rendered an IM conversation in my latest story:

AK: what if he's right?

AK: what if the only thing I'm good at is memory???

PrincessOfParallelograms: NO. He's wrong and he's an arsehole. Don't you dare start thinking like that.

I reminded her of the girl I'd tutored, who refused to memorise the laws of complex numbers until she understood how they were justified in the scheme of things. Then I paused, aware that what I was about to say might give offence, and I typed and retyped the next sentence half a dozen times before hitting send.

PrincessOfParallelograms: Anjali, are you familiar with the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's?

AK: why would u say that? Do I seem autistic to u??

AK: are u saying I'm mentally ill?

PrincessOfParallelograms: Just saying that I'm autistic and some of this sounds pretty familiar.

AK: well, I'm not.

PrincessOfParallelograms: Do me a favour? Please read the criteria and just think about it?

One of the things that I focus on when writing is the rhythm of a conversation. In that example Anjali's agitated and a bit obsessive, and one of the ways she shows it is by repeating herself - she sends a message, and then rather than wait for our narrator to reply, she sends another message saying pretty much the same thing.

That little quirk is something that doesn't have a direct counterpart in spoken language. You can pause and then repeat yourself, but it's not quite the same as sending a message and then sending another one. So IMHO it works a little better if I use a format that's closer to the style of the conversation I'm depicting.

Doing it this way also lets me establish the narrator's screen name, which gives some hints about the type of person she is. It would feel a bit odd to have her go out of her way to mention it, but here I can just sneak it into the attribution.

 

[Kantarii]

I have done several of my chapters containing text exchanges between chararacters. They aren’t “chunky” at all. Texts are short, concise, and over-simplified. After I write the dialogue, I usually note in the dialogue tags something to the effect of “I text, she replied, her text beams back, she answers, etc.

I also prep the change from dialogue to indicate it’s now shifting to text. Usually, a simple narrative saying “Suddenly, my iPhone chimes with an incoming text - it’s (whoever).

 

[SimonDoom]

How to render text exchanges is something I've wondered a lot about, and I've done some research about it, but from what I've seen there is no definitive guide to this.

In the one story in which I had extensive text conversations, I simply treated it like dialogue, used quotation marks, and inserted "texted" where I would have inserted "said" for spoken dialogue. It seemed to work O.K.

I have a few questions about things people have written here on this topic:

I wasn't familiar with the html code for angle brackets. Is there a comprehensive guide for html codes on this site? I've seen the guide with a few such codes, such as those for italics, centering, that sort of thing, but I don't recall seeing anything that was comprehensive enough to include angle brackets.

I haven't used any html code for formatting in my stories so far, and I have a question about that. If you do use such codes, will the finished version, sans codes and with proper formatting, appear when you click "Preview Story" after you've finished everything and uploaded it?

Re Bramblethorn's use of italics: shouldn't the party-identifying initials immediately preceding the text body be in non-italics rather than italics? It's not actually part of the text. Or does that look too weird?

 

[Sinstories]

Thanks for the discussion and thoughts. I started writing it last night and so far most of the exchanges have worked out more as a description of the exchange with a few quoted portions that work out well as dialog. It seems to flow fine.

I am worried about how a few scenes will play out where the details of the text exchange itself will be more critical. I may try a couple different of these ideas in the process and see what seems to work out.

 

[RejectReality]

HTML special characters don't really have a limit on Lit. There are a few odd ones that don't display properly. The diamonds suit used to be the worst offender, because it displayed just fine in preview, but once rendered on the actual story site, it showed up as a rectangle. Not sure how the diamonds suit renders in the new preview.

Most others have rendered fine in preview, letting you know that they'll show up the same way in the final posting. If they come out wonky in preview, then don't use them.

Any time you utilize special character codes, it's a good idea to point it out in the moderator notes section of the submission. You don't want Laurel to see it while skimming and knee-jerk reject it for HTML.

I rarely mention it for my use of emdashes, though. Every emdash in my stories is replaced with — because the one generated by Wordperfect renders as a double dash on Lit. I think Laurel knows that well enough by now that it's not necessary to mention it every time.

One thing you'll want to avoid is odd characters in titles and description lines. While foreign characters may render fine within stories, they currently display all wonky in many places where the stories are listed.

That could change when the new pages roll out.

EDIT: Link to a decent reference for special character codes.

https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_symbols.asp

I wasn't familiar with the html code for angle brackets. Is there a comprehensive guide for html codes on this site? I've seen the guide with a few such codes, such as those for italics, centering, that sort of thing, but I don't recall seeing anything that was comprehensive enough to include angle brackets.

 

[HisArpy]

No, you can't change the font on Lit.

Yes, you can.

My first story is in Times Roman. My second uses an Arial font code. Guess what, it's in Arial. Additionally, you can italicize, bold, underline, and use special characters (via HTML) if you use the right tags and let Laurel know in the special notes sections what you're trying to do.

The trick is to learn and use the tools that are available, not just say it can't be done. For instance, I've seen some of the AH "experts" say that ALL justification is left justified and it can't be changed. Yet I've seen with my own eyes, centered text in published stories here on Lit.

What can be done isn't always easy or simple, and sometimes we stumble until we find answers, but creative writing techniques are possible here.

 

[RejectReality]

No, you can't.

Here's your stories, as displayed on the site.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink/story_1.jpg

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink/story_2.jpg

Here's Times New Roman

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink/times_new_roman.jpg

And here's Verdana, which is the font the site uses.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink/verdana.jpg

Both of your stories display in the same font, and it's Verdana.

You cannot change the font.

Yes, you can.

My first story is in Times Roman. My second uses an Arial font code. Guess what, it's in Arial. Additionally, you can italicize, bold, underline, and use special characters (via HTML) if you use the right tags and let Laurel know in the special notes sections what you're trying to do.

The trick is to learn and use the tools that are available, not just say it can't be done. For instance, I've seen some of the AH "experts" say that ALL justification is left justified and it can't be changed. Yet I've seen with my own eyes, centered text in published stories here on Lit.

What can be done isn't always easy or simple, and sometimes we stumble until we find answers, but creative writing techniques are possible here.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, you can.

My first story is in Times Roman. My second uses an Arial font code. Guess what, it's in Arial. Additionally, you can italicize, bold, underline, and use special characters (via HTML) if you use the right tags and let Laurel know in the special notes sections what you're trying to do.

The trick is to learn and use the tools that are available, not just say it can't be done. For instance, I've seen some of the AH "experts" say that ALL justification is left justified and it can't be changed. Yet I've seen with my own eyes, centered text in published stories here on Lit.

What can be done isn't always easy or simple, and sometimes we stumble until we find answers, but creative writing techniques are possible here.

Both of your stories view on my computer in Verdana 9.

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

I prefer to use italics to denote text. And depending on the pov, it can be a good way to contrast what a character is revealing versus what they're keeping in or create tension with ambiguity, since tone and other cues we get during conversations are lost.

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

Do you know if they format with full justification no matter the font? I feel like Verdana looks the strangest when justified, but I'm not sure what they do on Lit.

 

[tomlitilia]

I had this issue in https://www.literotica.com/s/what-she-deserves-3 where I used a lot of texting. I combined quote marks with italics to separate these conversation from speech. I think it worked pretty good. But Literotica added a lot of extra space after these texts, which made it harder to read. If you submit with html codes rather than a word document like I did, I think you'll be OK though.

 

[Hypoxia]

Do you know if they format with full justification no matter the font? I feel like Verdana looks the strangest when justified, but I'm not sure what they do on Lit.

LIT stories are all left justified, and the font cannot be changed, though many special characters in the default font will display. If you write on a WinDoze machine, the old Character Map app is your friend.

Keep in mind that many (maybe half) of LIT's readers connect on tablets and phones via the Android app, which discards all HTML tags. No bolds, italics, underscores, centers, blockquotes -- none of that. To connect with all readers, skip the fancy layout attempts. Write compelling stories with words that grab eyeballs.

 

[RejectReality]

Keep in mind that Hypoxia has zero evidence for this ridiculous claim he keeps repeating, and there's a major point suggesting it's hogwash.

There is no way any significant number of people are using an app that is only available here, and repeatedly warns you it may harm your device if you jump through all the hoops necessary to install it, because all adult apps are unsanctioned by the official app stores.

Keep in mind that many (maybe half) of LIT's readers connect on tablets and phones via the Android app, which discards all HTML tags. No bolds, italics, underscores, centers, blockquotes -- none of that. To connect with all readers, skip the fancy layout attempts. Write compelling stories with words that grab eyeballs.

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

Okay, I think I was getting confused by the examples of what different fonts look like earlier in the thread.
I've been coding with css for so many years that it pains me to write an <i> or <b> or the dreaded <center> within text. Much rather define classes, but for the sake of stories getting published faster, I will use the <i> tag, but just the <i> tag (though I know it gets converted to <em> anyway).