by Marissa
(Ohio)
Question: In my book there are a couple time when a character is talking on a phone or through an ear piece to someone. How would I do the conversation? Would I just have my character speak and not put the other person's dialogue? or would I have both dialogue because it's from that character's point of view and they're the ones talking to the other person? Would I make it like a normal conversation between two people or would it be written differently? How would I write it?
Comments for How to do a phone conversation?
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by Steve Hawe
(Lonreach, Queensland, Australia)
Question:
Like Marrisa from Ohio, I also have a question about phone-call format. My story is also first person narration. Not all phone calls are one way. The ones that are (three) I'm happy with, and am confident that the reader, after becoming familiar with the characters and the way they interact with the 'heard' voice on the line, will hear in their mind the silent replies.
So, how to do it? As of now, I have a dotted gap which looks messy. What are my options?
Thanks so much for being available, Steve from Longreach, Australia.
Answer:
It's really no different than narrating any three-person conversation.
1.You will likely need speech tags to identify the speakers (e.g. "Dave said,..."). In a three-person conversation, you don't want your reader to get confused about who is speaking. Also, it's a little trickier to use action beats to indicate who is speaking.
2. With first person narration, you describe whatever the main character perceives, but only what the main character perceives. For example, in a cellphone conversation, you can describe what the main character is doing or seeing and what he hears over the phone, because that is all stuff the main character is aware of. But you cannot narrate what the other characters are doing or seeing, because that is outside the main character's awareness.
3. You can end a spoken line with an elipsis ("...") if the person speaking trails off mid-sentence, or is cut off, or interrupted by someone else. Otherwise, end with a period.
4. Change paragraphs each time a new character starts speaking.
5. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "silent replies," but if the main character is imagining or guessing how the person on the other end of the phone call is responding, you can include that in the narration, just like you would any other thought in the main character's mind. Again, you can only describe what the main character thinks or perceives. (How accurate this perception will be is questionable.) If there is a gap in the conversation, you can state this, because that is something the main character will notice.
Best of luck.
Question: I am currently writing a dual pov novel with 2MMC's A and B
my question is how to write the following
1.phone conversation between A with an off screen 3rd person(C) in B's POV chapter
2. phone conversation between A with an off screen 3rd person(C) in A's POV chapter
Answer: Okay, one at a time...
"1.phone conversation between A with an off screen 3rd person(C) in B's POV chapter."
Since you are writing from B's POV, you can only describe what B perceives. I presume B is watching and listening to A as A makes a phone call? If so, B would not hear anything C says, so that must be omitted (unless C is on a speaker). Otherwise, B might infer what the conversation is about based on what A says, but could not know for sure.
If B is not present while A makes the phone call, then you cannot include the phone call at all. (Perhaps you can have A tell B about it later.)
Bottom line: just describe what B sees and hears.
"2. phone conversation between A with an off screen 3rd person(C) in A's POV chapter"
Since, in this case, you are writing from A's perspective, you would describe what A perceives. A can hear what C says, so that can be included, just like in any dialogue between two characters where one character is the POV character.
Clear?