advice

james1611 · Sep 11, 2006

Has anyone ever seen someone interject news stories parenthetically within a story, for the sake of framing the world events taking place during the time of the storyline?

Would a news broadcast be italicized or just plain prose?

thanks,
James

TwentyFour · Sep 11, 2006

I am thinking of doing this too. I'm not sure if I will but I would think it would be paraphrased from an original. Try checking "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe.
http://english.byu.edu/Novelinks/Novel Pages/Mississippi Trial 1955.htm

icerose · Sep 11, 2006

I think it would be treated like letters and other correspondence, set off by spaces and italics, but I could be mistaken. Uncle Jim would know, he knows everything.

RG570 · Sep 11, 2006

I just set it off with italics.

DamaNegra · Sep 11, 2006

Hmmm I'd put a different, narrower margin on it, rather than Italics.

willietheshakes · Sep 11, 2006

In the final version of my book, the publisher opted to go with narrower margins and a different font. In the manuscript, I think I used italics.

PeeDee · Sep 11, 2006

The only time I can think of this being done was in Stephen King's "Carrie," when he put in fake news stories to bulk up his novel and add a sense of realism to the novel.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do it, honestly.

james1611 · Sep 12, 2006

aha...

PeeDee said:
The only time I can think of this being done was in Stephen King's "Carrie," when he put in fake news stories to bulk up his novel and add a sense of realism to the novel.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do it, honestly.

I think this is the kind of thing I'm looking at. I'm making up the stories, but wasn't sure how to set them apart in a nice looking fashion.
I like the narrower margin idea and the different font possiblity...I guess I would just use the Italics and hopefully let a publisher change it if they wanted the novel. I was considering doing it in between chapters but I think now that just a P.O.V. change and the respective spacing would do it and keep it as parenthetical in the chapter, maybe beginning or end of the chapters. I don't think it would look the way I'm wanting if it were stuck right in the middle...ideas?

If anyone else has more info, please comment! Uncle Jim, where are you?

James

icerose · Sep 12, 2006

DO NOT place it in a different font. That is a mark of a newbie in the eyes of the publisher and agent. I would suggest keeping to italics, they will see it set apart from the rest of the book and the text department will set it off in the way they wish it to appear. Just get the point across that it is not normal flow, it is a newscast and they will take it from there.

emeraldcite · Sep 12, 2006

Jack McDevitt uses fictional new stories, headlines, and quotes in his Academy novels. Check out Engines of God, Deepsix, Chindi, or Omega.

He's quite a good writer.

sassandgroove · Sep 12, 2006

Doesn't Uncle Jim say somewhere not to actually use italics, but to underline what you want italicized, for submission.

Vincent · Sep 12, 2006

Tad Williams had little news snippets or advertisements at the start of every chapter of his Otherland novels. These were sci fi novels, and the articles were usually transcripts of live media, to give some insight into the world he'd created. Sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing. I thought they were nifty.

icerose · Sep 12, 2006

sassandgroove said:
Doesn't Uncle Jim say somewhere not to actually use italics, but to underline what you want italicized, for submission.

That's right, I forgot about that. They do want underlines to indicate italics.

James D. Macdonald · Sep 12, 2006

james1611 said:
Has anyone ever seen someone interject news stories parenthetically within a story, for the sake of framing the world events taking place during the time of the storyline?

Would a news broadcast be italicized or just plain prose?

thanks,
James

Depends.

If it's a long excerpt it'll likely be set off by linebreaks and the entire thing indented.

This really falls under House Style. The publisher will set the extract the way they like to set extracts.

In your manuscript: Make sure the reader isn't confused, and be consistent throughout. Chose a style and don't be overly concerned.

terrycc · Sep 12, 2006

In my book there are several instances where I used news stories within the storyline just like you describe. When I submitted it to the publisher I had to underline these news stories, but when I got the finished draft they came back as italics.

Take care

citymouse · Sep 12, 2006

james1611 said:
Has anyone ever seen someone interject news stories parenthetically within a story, for the sake of framing the world events taking place during the time of the storyline?

james1611 said:
Would a news broadcast be italicized or just plain prose?

thanks,
James

James I used plain prose. My third book opens with a BBC news broadcast. Although the news item is based on a real event (the beheading of a 19yo Korean man) the entire scene is fiction. In the research process I went to a website and viewed the crime. Then I wrote the scene. It was one of the most difficult scenes I ever wrote. I won't post it here because it may be disturbing to some members, however, if you want to read how I handled it I can share it with you privately.

PeeDee · Sep 12, 2006

Isaac Asimov also did, at the beginning and ending of each chapter of "Foundation" an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Galactica. He just did those in Italics, but they were pretty clearly not part of the story you'd just read.

james1611 · Sep 12, 2006

Thanks everyone,

PeeDee said:
Isaac Asimov also did, at the beginning and ending of each chapter of "Foundation" an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Galactica. He just did those in Italics, but they were pretty clearly not part of the story you'd just read.

Thanks to all,

good information and I've got some direction to get started with this portion of my new manuscript.

James

advice

james1611

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW

icerose

Lost in School Work

RG570

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

willietheshakes

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

james1611

icerose

Lost in School Work

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut

Vincent

Cheers

icerose

Lost in School Work

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

terrycc

citymouse

fantasy dweller

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

james1611