bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profile

Topic : Re: How to display a duet in lyrics? I wonder if someone can tell me whether there is a convention when laying out a lyric to show different parts (or even a chorus). In my novel, there are - selfpublishingguru.com

10% popularity

I have a trinity of methods for whenever one is wondering how to visually display different ways/forms/voices of communication, whether that be distinguishing dialogue, thoughts or telepathy (basically thoughts present in POV mind though by a different character). In this case, there is one form of communicating, singing, but two different voices in that communication.

So, here are the three different methods:

Italics

I always and solely use them for thoughts. Few things in art are objective, but I believe it is objectively better to use italics for thoughts. Anyways, they can be used as a general way to distinguish one form of communication from another.

Different font

I personally use this, combining it with the italics. In my book, there is POV character possessed by a demon. The POV's thoughts are written in italics, but since the demon's way of communication is through the POV's mind, his speech is also in italics. So, how do I distinguish the two voices? With a different font for the demon. Not only is this effective, but it allows for some stylization of the character in question. I use a dark and jagged font for his dialogue, and it fits his demonic personality quite well. Font use is a definitively effective for visual story-telling in your writing.

Text alignment

Does your text come from the left? The right? Does it run down the middle? This is another visual way to distinguish different forms/ways/voices of communication. I usually use this for singing, adjusting the text to center alignment. Now, there are probably more ways than the ones I have mentioned, and the ones mentioned might not work for you, for whatever reason. But keep exploring. I've read a guy who has many different ways of communication, and he uses none of the methods mentioned. (He uses brackets, "-" and '-')

tl;dr: Look at the highlighted words


Load Full (0)

Login to follow topic

More posts by @Chiappetta298

0 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

Back to top