LibriVox Forum

I'm looking for professional advice for how to handle dialogue between two or more characters when there's rapid exchange of short sentences punctuated with lots of "he said, she said". It feels a little cumbersome and awkward to state the he said she saids back and forth even though it's written in the text so I'm wondering if there are some general rules/guidelines about handling those situations?

Thanks

One way is to say the "he saids" and "she saids" much lower in volume and quickly, almost like an aside, so it intrudes less on the actual dialogue.

I figured as much and have been doing so, but it still feels clunky to me. Is there any precedent where I could use different tones of voice to indicate the different characters and thus avoid the he said she saids altogether, or are we obligated to read them aloud anyway?

Thanks for the reply!

BroderickL wrote: ↑February 1st, 2021, 8:49 am I figured as much and have been doing so, but it still feels clunky to me. Is there any precedent where I could use different tones of voice to indicate the different characters and thus avoid the he said she saids altogether, or are we obligated to read them aloud anyway?

Thanks for the reply!

Using different voices to differentiate characters is fine, but omitting the he-saids is not permitted. Altering the text is not allowed; texts must be read unabridged. You should listen to an array of audiobooks to see how various readers handle situations.