PAPER FORMATTING
INNER/OUTER DIALOGUES:
Your next assignment is a formal submission of those Inner/Outer Dialogues that you have been transcribing in your portable notebooks. You can decide which ones to include, as long as they meet our word count requirement. Most important: Youâll want your dialogues to be easily read. Hence, I suggest using a few words of location or settingâthis can be very briefâusing italics. As long as your format is consistent, the reader will understand and be able to hear the different âvoicesâ (whether they are inner or outer). There are a number of ways you can do this. Most will make the dialogue you are transcribing look a little bit like a play. Here are some examples to get you started. (All were taken from actual dialogues read aloud in my class. These are snippets. Yours may be much longer.)
Dialogue Example:
Sept. 10. 1:00PM
While I am waiting for the train, I overhear a middle-aged woman talking to a teen-age boy.
âHow do you spend all your money in the bank?â
[Boy doesnât answer. He looks down at his phone and doesnât want to make eye contact with her.]
The woman persists.
âLast time I gave you a thousand dollars to put in the bank, and I told you itâs for your tuition, but now you tell me you only have $100 in the bank. If the [ladies in the] college doesnât tell me you paid with the cardâŚwere you going to tell me?!!…â
Gosh. This boy sure can spend money. Heâs gonna be in trouble.
[Still, the boy doesnât answer. Finally he startsâŚ]
âStop bothering me!,â he says.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sept. 16, 2019. Number 5 Train. On my way home. The time is around 3:30PM.
People talking loudly. Having conversations. I board the train at Jay Street-Borough Hall and I notice that an entire football team is already in my train car, and they are huddling around their coach, who is sitting. They all wear street clothes. Their coach holds their jerseys and other gear in a bag. Most of the players seem to be teen-age/high-school age.
I overhear them talk about their plays and strategies. The coach was actually drawing up their plays on a dry erase board.
I start talking to a player sitting next to me about their game.
At 149th Street the team exits the train.
I get off the train at E. 180th St.
…..
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
9:38AM. L Train. First Avenue, going towards Manhattan/Queens.
The train is crowded. An unidentified female speaks.
âScoot in, these people are just trying to get to work. Thereâs like, hella space here.â
[No one moves. She goes on speaking to herself, more softly.]
âNo one?â
[The crowd still doesnât move.]
âOkay.â
âŚ.
++++++++++++++++++++
7AM. Church Avenue F and G train station. There are a bunch of upset people who act like they are late for work or school. A man in a suit keeps checking his watch and looking down the tunnel for the train coming.
Man in Suit: âWhere the heck is the train?â
Woman In Red Nearby [while staring at me, writing]: âI have no idea what Iâm going to do.â
There is a group of children running down to the other side of the platform. They are about 9 or 10 years old, on average.
I hope that the Woman in Red is not getting mad at me.
Now, there is a train arriving.The green reflection of the trains shows that it is a G Train. Everyone returns to their positions, upset.
Man in Suit: âOh my god, where is this damned train?!â (He yells as if it will make the train come faster.)
Surprisingly, the train is now arriving. Man in Suit rushes to the exact spot where the door will open.
âŚâŚ
+++++
Note that this format leaves a lot of space, and does not use quotation marks, and basically looks like a transcribed play:
7 Train. 7:40PM. A man of around 19 is standing, holding the pole. He talks to another man who appears to be his friend.
First Guy: I broke up with my girlfriend. She flirted with other guys. Basically, cheating on me. I wasted six months with her, and this is what I got.
Second Guy: Damn, I feel bad for you. Wasnât she your first girlfriend?
First Guy:
Second Guy:
etc etc
++++++
Example, with slightly different formatting. Inner dialogue has no quotation mark. The speakers are not identified, but they are always indicated by quotation marks:
7 Train. 7:40PM. A man of around 19 is standing, holding the pole. He talks to another man who appears to be his friend.
âOnly wanted a girlfriend to just have.â
âYou picked wrong.â
Gosh, these people are having a tough day. I wish I didnât have to sit here.
âWhy did you even go out with her?â
I wonder what heâs going to say now. Oh no.
âMan, you always choose the wrong girl.â
etc etc.
++++
Another example. An easy and sort of classic use of italics and quotes:
Midnight. Starbucks on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, Manhattan.
I wish Iâd never left the house. No one is sitting near me, but there are a number of people at the other end of the room. Man, itâs pretty empty. I feel kind of self conscious, writing in the corner. I am drinking tea.
âHi, could I get a macchiato?â
âVente or grande?â
âVenteâ
Why can I hear the people at the counter, even though Iâm so far away? I wonderâŚ.
[Music. âUptown Funk.â Again?!] âJulio, get the stretch!â
âUm, I asked for a vente and this is a grande. Can you please get my order right?â
Wow, this woman is picky. Why is she even ordering a coffee at midnight anyway; doesnât she ever want to sleep? My herbal tea is getting cold.
âWe show up when we show up â smoother than a fresh jar o skippyâŚâ
âHereâs your change.â
âUm, okay.â
***************************END of DIALOGUE EXAMPLES************
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