Hello again, fellow students of the craft. In my current WIP, there's going to be a lot of online chat going on, much like what one would expect to see in an application like Discord. I don't read a ton of newer books, so I haven't really come across many instances of this. What do you all think is the best way to write online chat dialogue? I was thinking something simple like this for the basic format: <username404>: ur a stinky ass dumb shit <dumbshit121>: no u r <username404>: prepare to consume my excretions For the last example line there, I was wondering how a poop emoji might be expressed. Perhaps just in brackets? <username404>: prepare to consume my excretions (poop emoji) For emojis posted directly on certain comments by other users (which yes, definitely is going to be relevant in the dialogue in this fictional group of chatters), I was thinking that they might be expressed like: <username404>: prepare to consume my excretions (poop emoji) Four users reacted with their own poop emoji. I'd love to always include the characters' avatars, but I doubt that's feasible. If I describe their avatars once or twice, it feels likely that readers would forget, but I suppose that's a different topic. Guess I'd go with describing them, but also try to make it a good fit for their username, so the username alone will conjure up their image in the reader's mind. Anywho, I've been thinking on this a lot, and I'm not dead set on anything, so I was wondering what others might be thinking here. Thanks !
They way you describe it is the way I'd do it. I probably wouldn't mess with the avatars unless you're including an actual graphic. Otherwise you'd have to mention <captain kirk avatar> each time, which feels lame. Though it's okay if you mention them in a narrative sense. And <poop emoji> is much funnier than an actual poop emoji. It deadpans the absurd.
You can also consider using a different font to distinguish it from the rest of the text. Probably a monospace font which computer terminals tend to use.... <username404>: ur a stinky ass dumb shit <dumbshit121>: no u r <username404>: prepare to consume my excretions That's Courier New but any other monospace could work. That's literally like my IRC client! It has strong computer vibes. But modern GUI applications don't look like that of course. Don't forget that you can paste actual emojis if you want to. It doesn't work here it seems (likely because the site restricts them) but it will work on your word processor. If you convert to PDF though or paste the text in any other platform, there is a danger of them disappearing, so be careful. But I agree that the <poop emoji> looks way funnier.
