Showing a character reading aloud

[dannyne330]

What's the proper format for this?

Here's a random example without worrying about public domain issues:

He read to her. "And on the seventh day, God created man."


Do you use double quotation marks?
Do you italicize it?
Does the "He read" make those unnecessary, and you can just keep it as it is above?
Does any of this change if he reads SEVERAL lines of text?
In that case, would you use a colon instead of a period?

In an academic paper, you would use a colon and then indent the recited text separately if it's more than two lines. But what's the preferred technique in a novel?

Different publishers may favor different methods, but is there a most common way to do this?


I know similar issues have been covered in the past, and I apologize if this specific one was as well. I didn't see it.

Cheers!

[katdad]

If the quote being read is short, it should, I think, be enclosed in single quotes within the double:

Joe laughed at the memo. "Get a load of this," he said. "It tells us 'Please do not spit at fellow employees.' What a load of crud!"

If the quote is several sentences or of paragraph length, it should be set aside separately and italicized:

Joe read from the memo:

Employees must wash hands... etc Thank you.

"Can you believe that crud?" he laughed.

That's how I do it. I could be wrong.

[preyer]

i'm sure there's a 'correct' way of doing it, but in our evergrowingly (nice word, eh?) culture of laxitudalness (ex. 'i'm' lovin' it'-- the currect golden arches catchphrase), i think that however you can get your point across will work for most novels. note, that's for novels, which tend to be more relaxed, i think.

i'd say as long as it doesn't look out-of-place, it's all right. to be honest, yeah, you probably should technically italicize longer passages, but who wants to read that? of course, standard bearers of grammardom will howl, and even if you did it right, some self-proclaimed 'expert' will say you're doing it wrong, lol. kd's first example is how i'd write it because that's how i'd prefer to read it. if it's a long paragraph where people make comments or have reactions, there are a couple different ways you can make it work, and one is probably more correct than the rest.

in kd's second example, by separating the elements, it puts a different connotation as to how it's being delivered by the character, as if it's being 'read aloud' with more dramatic emphasis, while the first is more conversational. if it's a long part, sure, i'd set it a part, though i'd indent the whole part and nevermind the italics.

good question. it illustrates some of the subtleties of writing and how people have varying approaches.

[Greenwolf103]

It's okay to quote the Bible. There's no copyright issue. At least, I don't think there is.

[dannyne330]

Thanks for the help guys.

[Writing Again]

He read, "And on the seventh day, God created man."

[James D Macdonald]

It's okay to quote the Bible. There's no copyright issue. At least, I don't think there is.

Depends on the copyright date of the translation.

[maestrowork]

How about simply:

"And on the seventh day, God created man," he read out loud.