: What's the proper way of formatting writing from a character in a novel? I'm writing a story that constantly shows what the characters are writing. I would like to know how to format that.

@Candy753

Posted in: #Formatting #Novel

I'm writing a story that constantly shows what the characters are writing.
I would like to know how to format that. Right now I'm doing it like this
(please ignore the grammar, it is a rough draft):

The young women dressed as a nurse
goes to the bar and orders a sandwich.
After that, she check around looking
for a sit. She finally decides to sit
in one which is in front of the young
man. He completely ignores that action
and keeps writing. After some minutes,
he finally stops to see what he has
written.
Imaginary Interior Being Disorder. The patient loses contact with
symbiosis and one-ness with nature and
universe. Since he loses this
connection, he doesn’t know what will
happen if he dies, this makes the
patient to be terrified of death. So
he finally creates a invisible,
eternal being to compensate that.

Any suggestions?

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@Welton431

@Welton431

For a sentence or a fragment of a sentence, quotation marks. For a few paragraphs, block indent. For substantial material, put it inline with a square-bracket explanation a few words in:


He completely ignores that action and
keeps writing. After some minutes, he
finally stops to see what he has
written.

Imaginary Interior Being Disorder [it ran] The
patient loses contact with symbiosis
and one-ness with nature and universe.
Since he loses this connection, he
doesn’t know what will happen if he
dies, this makes the patient to be
terrified of death.


And as Craig said, be wary of italics. They quickly become tiresome to read.

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@Rambettina586

@Rambettina586

See this question, since I think the same principle applies:
What's a clear way to simulate web text in a story?

Essentially, block indent the text.

I would also avoid the italics, if possible. Too much of it, and it becomes a pain for the reader to follow.

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