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fleurravenbooks
May '22

So i have scene planned where two of my characters will have "conversation" , it's more of one way conversation, but readers shouldn't know what it is yet, i can't use different language because they speak the same one, so do you have any ideas??

If it was comic i would blur words out, but i can't do it in novel, also if it was physical book i would put little black box , but i have no idea can i do it here

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    May '22

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    Jun '22
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NickRowler
May '22

I am not too familiar with novels but does it recognize Unicode characters?
Like these?
▓▓▓▓▓▓
████

TreeHugger
May '22

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I found myself in a similar situation where two characters "talked" about a plan to help one of them run away. It was a decently long plan and I knew that I didn't want everything to be talked out just for readers to have to re-read something they already know.

It might help to do a slight time-skip to a moment after the conversation happens, and then you can have that character either reveal slight things about what was talked about, or leave it up as a conversation that will be revealed in the future while thing topic of the conversation happens in the moment.

I hope this made sense :blush:

zeitybitey
May '22

All the above suggestions are quite creative.
If not, I guess it could be like A: "...and..." B: "but then ........" or simply lots of question marks to fill in the gaps?

Ordinaryaverageguy
May '22

Not sure if this sort of thing fits your own writing style, but I guess I'd start with a draft of the scene kinda like this.
Alpha beckoned to Beta from where she stood by the shadows. When Beta approached, Alpha drew him further into the dark corner, out of view of others. Alpha leaned in and whispered something urgently. Beta's face went pale. Alpha whispered again, this time gesticulating as if to give further weight to her words. Beta nodded and murmured something in reply. Looking about to assure herself they'd not been overheard, she drew Beta out into the unlighted corridor and the door closed silently behind them.

IOW, don't actually write the secret conversation but describe its occurrence.

apexdraws
May '22

I agree with ordinaryaverageguy and treehugger, the best way would be to describe the conversation happening without actually including any dialogue. Or have character A call character B over to talk, then cut to what some of your other characters are doing, and then cut back to A and/or B post-conversation.

Using unicode, bleeping words out, etc. can work if you're going for something more experimental, but they'd be difficult to pull off in a regular novel.

fleurravenbooks
May '22
apexdraws

Yeah, that was my concern , it does look reallyyyyyyyyyy cool but i don't think it will fit fantasy genre

Lady_T_Musings
May '22

Squigly lines or juxtapose another conversation, the radio, or tv, or something else louder over top of it like horns or sirens, or even music maybe :slight_smile:

Nim
May '22

Another way you could perhaps go at it would be to give a reason to one side to remain more quiet, while following the second character instead.
Lets take this as an example.

Steve saw Leia was waiting for him in the parking lot, where they agreed to meet. But she looked nervous.
"Hey Leia, everything good?" he waved to her.
Leia turned to me, nodded, and waited until I arrived at her side.
"So what was so urgent? I thought we weren't supposed to meet until Tuesday?"
Leia nodded, before leaning over and whispering in his ear. While Steve knew she was the cautious type, this felt like overkill. He listened until it dawned on him what she was saying.
"Wait, you want us to do what? Are you insane? You know what Greg would do if he caught wind of this?"
Leia grabbed Steve's ear and whispered something more, which caused Steve's expression to turn pale.
"R-right. I suppose you have a point there. But when-"
Before he could finish his question, he felt a note get placed in his hands, Leia gave him a wink, then quickly left the lot. Steve just look at her for a moment, before noticing something on a nearby pole. It was a security camera. Understanding now why she kept quiet, Steve quickly left the parking lot as well, deciding to take a look at the note later, when he would be in a more private setting.

But every other suggestion given so far feels like a pretty good one too. Each can give a different feel to the novel, so go with the one that feels right to your story! ^^

fleurravenbooks
May '22

Oohh!!! This one is good !!! It might a bit more work to implement it in my story, but idea is really smart :slight_smile:

1 month later

closed Jun 28, '22

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