Forum: Author Hangout

Text Messages / Group Chats in stories

Marc Nobbs 🚫

Just wondering, how do you guys handle text message communication in your stories? It's such a big part of modern comms, that to ignore it seems wrong. So how do you format to show it's a text message? And what if it's a whole conversation via text message?

In previous stories I've used one of the many websites that do it to create the kind of text bubbles you see in apps, which works well for an eBook format, particularly given you can use "alt text" for screen readers, but on here I've just gone with italics.

I did the same for some Tweets in a previous book.

But in my last one there was a *lot* of texting and it would have taken me ages to produce all those images *and* I had a "Group Chat", which adds another layer of complexity. Same in the book I'm currently writing.

So, just wondering, how do you guys handle it or do you shy away from the idea completely?

Replies: LupusDei Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster) Pixy Paladin_HGWT Michael Loucks

LupusDei 🚫
Updated:

@Marc Nobbs

I'm not a published author, so my opinion is easy to dismiss, but in the writing experiments I do once now I then, I threat the texting just as any dialogue only with a tag "he wrote" or "she read" instead of "said" and for long back and forth I even dropped those. It gets murkier if asynchronous texting is going on in parallel with in-person conversations, because the potential confusion with partners are able to perceive with particular parts of the whole conversation, but that would be mess in any case.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Marc Nobbs

For SOL (and the other sites based on the same engine) you can use specific tags (not currently documented, I'll document them).

{divbbub}{/div} would create a blue bubble on the left.

{divgbub}{/div} would create a green bubble on the right.

sample:

https://storiesonline.net/s/15834/youre-in-for-it/1

Replies: Pixy Marc Nobbs Sarkasmus

Pixy 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

How would that work in practice?

{divbbub} Insert text here {/div}

Are there spaces between the command and text, or no spaces?

How come there is so much that isn't documented? I have been here a couple of months now, and this is the first time I have even seen this! Could you use it, say to highlight the choices in something like an interactive story?

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)
Updated:

@Pixy

Are there spaces between the command and text, or no spaces?

Anything can go between the tags.

How come there is so much that isn't documented?

Because exposing things officially to authors usually leads to a lot of misuse or simply errors (giving me more work to do). For example, the notation {_ _} are constantly used to italicize a sentence in a paragraph (instead of just using the underscore without the bracket), causing the sentence to be in its own paragraph. It's misused so much that I had to adjust my scripts to fix this type of error.

I have been here a couple of months now, and this is the first time I have even seen this! Could you use it, say to highlight the choices in something like an interactive story?

It's possible if I decided to enhance the support for interactive stories, but their number is so low that it's not worth the effort.

Marc Nobbs 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Interesting, although the bubbles in the examples take up about 50% of the page which seems a bit much. Can you control how wide the bubbles are?

The example also seems to have line breaks in the bubbles (eg to have name & time on the top row, then a break, then text) - how does that work in practice? Just a {br} tag in between the divs?

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Marc Nobbs

Can you control how wide the bubbles are?

The stylesheet is set to 65% width. So, no, you can't control that. I know that you would want them to wrap the text dynamically like on the phone, but not easy to do on a web page.

The example also seems to have line breaks in the bubbles (eg to have name & time on the top row, then a break, then text) - how does that work in practice? Just a {br} tag in between the divs?

It's a < div> tag. So you can put almost anything inside it. It's designed to work with multiple paragraphs.

Sarkasmus 🚫
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Stupid question that I could never figure out from the guide alone: Can I use those tags inside an HTML submission?

Like, can I go "{divbbub} Insert text here {/div}", or do I need to somehow convert it into something like a class, like, " Insert Text here "?

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Sarkasmus

Like, can I go "{divbbub} Insert text here {/div}"

Yes.

Don't be creative. Many authors fall into that with tags. Use it as I presented it.

for example, multiple lines in one message:

{divbbub}

Message text

More Message text

{/div}

or simply:

{divbbub}Message Text{/div} // Blue bubble

{divgbub}Reply message Text{/div} // green bubble

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Thank you!!!

Pixy 🚫

@Marc Nobbs

Previously, I have just used : with italics. So it would appear something like;

Marc felt his pocket vibrate. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone to see who was bothering him now.

: Marc, I need a favour. Ring me... :

But now Laz has revealed another way, I might abuse it till people tell me to stop. Or I forget how to do it (More likely).

Replies: Marc Nobbs redthumb

Marc Nobbs 🚫

@Pixy

Previously, I have just used : with italics.

I've done the same, only I've never been anything like consistent with how I've done it. I really should rectify that. lol

redthumb 🚫

@Pixy

Some time ago, I think I remember some people that said that they either didn't like reading or had problems reading italic. What about using the left and right arrows instead of quotes for texting?

Replies: Paladin_HGWT

Paladin_HGWT 🚫

@redthumb

What about using the left and right arrows instead of quotes for texting?

I think that might be a good solution (if you made a notation about what/why you are using >words< or for) but it would work best for only one or two people.

It would still pose a problem for a "Group Chat"...

I have been thinking about this topic.

Perhaps:
(using the "Typewriter Text" for the Messages)

Jim sends, >Hey guys lets meet up.<

Paul sends, >where at?<

Mary sends, >I'm in<

Cindy sends, >Y not the club?<

To combine several suggestions.

Paladin_HGWT 🚫

@Marc Nobbs

how do you format to show it's a text message?

I have considered using: Colouring Text
Three colours are supported: Red, Green and Blue.
Blue is specified by {blue} {/blue}.

Example: Jenny sent Marc a text, he read: {blue}what r u up 2? {/blue}

Or.
Teletype is specified by {tt} {/tt}.

Example:

This sample shows tag usage.
{tt}This Text is monospace
and like a typewriter{/tt}.
Would look like this:

This sample shows tag usage. This Text is monospace and like a typewriter.

Both are from: https://storiesonline.net/doc/Text_Formatting_Information_Guide

And what if it's a whole conversation via text message?

Using my first suggestion there are three colors available.

Replies: Marc Nobbs

Marc Nobbs 🚫

@Paladin_HGWT

I have considered using: Colouring Text

I did this in the "Group Chat" in "A Wounded Heart" in the eBook versions and gave each of the five participants a different colour. I'll be honest, I was never completely happy with it.

Replies: Paladin_HGWT

Paladin_HGWT 🚫

@Marc Nobbs

I have considered the issue, and done some research in the Forum and Guides on SoL; as well as other "Writers' Sites" but not found a truly satisfactory solution.

In my stories so far, I have avoided depicting a group text.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Marc Nobbs

For AIM (given the time of my story), I just use the typewriter (i.e. monospace) font with each message attributed to who sent it.

Text messages are rare at that point, so they're just snippets in the monospaced font. When true text messaging arrives, I'll use the newly disclosed method, I suspect.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Text Messages / Group Chats in stories

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