Anyone have examples as how it should be written, slang? abbreviated?
And how does it show in the novel? italics? colons? commas and semicolons?
And how does it show in the novel? italics? colons? commas and semicolons?
Texting and IMing in YA
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I had blogging and texting in my first manuscript. I generally just italicized. I think most of the formatting decisions are inconsequential untill you get to the publishing stage. Editors will probably tell you how they want it formatted.
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This.
In a finished novel, text messages and emails are usually printed in a different font and/or point size, but as the author that's not your call. Just use italics.
I do bold for texts and italics for IM and email, and my editor kept it that way.
As for abbreviations...keep your characters in mind. A meticulous one wouldn't, a lazy one would.
As for abbreviations...keep your characters in mind. A meticulous one wouldn't, a lazy one would.
Becca C.
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This is good to know. I'm planning on having texts & a few emails on my upcoming MS (haven't actually begun yet) and I haven't been able to find a clear cut answer on this! Thanks everyone & thanks Lmc71775 for posting this question!
I didn't use abbreviations, but I used bold for IM conversations (and split the IMs onto a separate line from the other text, aligned the margin with the left-hand side of page, and kept the usernames in there), and just used italics for texts (didn't separate those out from paragraphs necessarily). And italics for emails too, but I pulled those out and put them in block format (so, without tabbing in the first line, and made the margins a little thinner).
of course, the editors/copyeditors change this all anyway. But for now, I wanted to make it uniform
of course, the editors/copyeditors change this all anyway. But for now, I wanted to make it uniform
In my last "finished" novel, I used caps. There were only two text messages, though, and I have NO idea how this is usually done.
I do IM's in bold, abbreviated, but with a break to help anyone who might not know the meaning. Like this:
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][/FONT]
I use italics for texts. I've never used IM in a story. My editor or copyeditor usually formats it for me later.
As for abbreviations - what Shady said is right. Keep characters in mind. In Shut Out I used some texting, and while one character spelled almost everything out, the other was the type to abbreviate most things. It all depends.
As for abbreviations - what Shady said is right. Keep characters in mind. In Shut Out I used some texting, and while one character spelled almost everything out, the other was the type to abbreviate most things. It all depends.
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Barry Lyga did IM conversations in a kind of fun way with Fanboy and Goth Girl. They looked like this:
And he separated them off from the regular chapters. Like BlindWriter said, Shady's approach to texts is probably the best way to go. Chat speak annoys me, but it can speak volumes about your characters if used the right way.
And he separated them off from the regular chapters. Like BlindWriter said, Shady's approach to texts is probably the best way to go. Chat speak annoys me, but it can speak volumes about your characters if used the right way.
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