I'm currently working on a scene where one of my characters is throwing out ideas for what hashtag to use on a picture she's about to post to social media. I'm going back and forth about whether to include the hashtag character (#) or not. Option 1: "What should I use for a hashtag? #BackTogether?" After a quick look at Jamie, however, she shook her head. "On second thought, I like #NewBeginnings even better." Option 2: "What should I use for a hashtag? BackTogether?" After a quick look at Jamie, however, she shook her head. "On second thought, I like NewBeginnings even better." On the one hand, Carmen is speaking, and a hashtag isn't really part of speech. On the other hand, a book is a visual medium, so maybe the hashtag is correct because that's what she's going to type? Are there even grammar rules that apply to these newfangled internety things? Do I just say screw it and let my editor sort it out a year from now?
Who knows. What I would say is that if you want to look for grammatical precedent, you already felt compelled to italicize the hashtag, and we often italicize titles and things in dialogue. The italics in those cases are meant to denote a special usage of the words in question, not the words themselves. I would argue that a hashtag does the same thing: it shows that the words are a hashtag, just as italics would show that the words are a title. That's fucked up... can't believe I might actually be advocating for the use of hashtags.
I think you've been able to articulate why Option 1 looks so much better to me, even though I couldn't figure out why. Most of my understanding of grammar is based on observation and gut feeling, since I'm a little wobbly on anything besides the most basic of grammar rules. Come to the Dark Side, Homie. We have cookies.
Myself personally, I would not use the # because you already referred to it and put the titles in inset quotes. "What should I use for a hashtag? 'BackTogether?'" After a quick look at Jamie, however, she shook her head. "On second thought, I like 'NewBeginnings' even better." But then again, I'm a little hazy on how this should work technically grammatically, and my faith in my own grammatic ability has been pretty thoroughly shaken since I found out the "double space after a period" is no longer a thing.
I'm fond of the no hashtag in the speech version. She's not saying hashtag at that point so it looks more natural.
I wouldn't use the octothorpe inside quotes. Though, I guess you might use a dollar sign, or an ampersand, or an at sign in a character saying an email address ... I dunno, it looks weird to me. But if the character isn't saying 'hashtag' I definitely wouldn't include it.
Not sure what the gramatical 'rules' are for this, if there are any. Using the # is common usage, everyone knows what it means - and italicised, it is clear and simple, If you want clarity and readability I'd say writing #BackTogether or #NewBeginnings is great. If I was doing the same I might think about putting it in singe quotes as well, '#BackTogether' maybe.
OK, if it's part of dialogue, then it's part of speech, and when we speak, we say "hashtag" we don't do a little dance, or cross four fingers together (well, I used to just to piss off my kids) we actually say the word, so if you don't want to repeat it too much, change the sentence. But write it as you would speak it. "What do you think about 'hashtag back together'?" After a quick look at Jamie, however, she shook her head. "On second thought, I like 'hashtag New Beginnings' even better." you can refer back to it as it would look if you then go on to saying something along the lines of: Jamie let her hands hover above her laptop keyboard for a moment. Then she made her decision and typed #NewBeginings
I love that the consensus is...no consensus at all! I'm think I'm going with Option 3: Let my editor sort it out a year or so from now.
