A simple question that hopefully has a simple answer.

I need my character to text someone and get replies. How would you go about showing that in the body of the work? Italics? Different font?

I haven't seen this in a published work.

Jon

Hi Jon,

Danuta Reah did it in Bleak Water. My copy is packed away in a box now, so I can't check it for you, but I'm sure you can lay your hands on a copy at the library.

Dee

I did it in my first novel and I think I used italics. There must be published examples out there! There's lots of example of e-mail or instant messagenger conversations, isn't there?

Cath

I'm sure there are - there MUST be - I just haven't got any of the books in which it's done (or at least, can't remember them, which amounts to the same thing).

The closest I've got is in the Peter Hamilton Night's Dawn books where he uses bold typeface without quotes to indicate a 'telepathic' message.

J

Zadie Smith does a brilliantly realised IM conversation in The Autograph Man, with all the delays and replying to posts nearly missed and the rest... perhaps even a smiley face or two..

I don't think I made it that far in The Autograph Man!

You could just use a different font. There's no rules with this kind of thing, is there? I'd just do it how you think.

Cath