reading emoticons, textspeak, punctuation

[silentcs]

I was going over a few stories when I realized that I didn't know how to handle some of the texting language and conventions out loud

Comments

[greedy_dancer]

As a listener, I think I would prefer something that integrates into the reading seamlessly, to a clear "meta" marker indicating text speak. Maybe the fact that it's not normal dialogue could be made clear by enunciating more, or using a different tone of voice or rhythm or something like that?

As for the punctuation, why not "dot dot dot" and "exclamation marks!" ?

I'm very interested in the responses you're going to get for this. I've been thinking about these issues, because I'm considering recording not!fic at some point in the future, and I have no idea how I'd deal with that kind of thing. And, like, how do you pronounce ;_____* ?? lol

[silentcs]

Thanks for the link! It was pretty clever to use computerized voices in that case.

[laurie_ky]

Hmm... Maybe for the text speech spell it outloud slowly, like you're trying to puzzle it out, Say the word then, and then at the end read the whole text again, with expression, like you've now figured it out and are repeating to yourself.

Or, read it and then mess with it with effects, put it on an echo, or a higih pass filter to make it sound more mechanical.

For the exclamation points, maybe use sounds that sound surprised, or whatever emotion needs to be conveyed, sort of like Looney Tunes cartoons, maybe? Maybe actual clips of sounds or make up your own, non-speech sounds, like a happy sigh for the hearts and and a questioning sound or excited sound for the exclamation points.

Laurie

[silentcs]

Thank you! Looney Tunes noises had not occurred to me, but it would make complete sense for there to be a sound instead of baffled silence or surprise.

[fire_juggler]

I know that when Fayjay read "The Student Prince", there were several texting parts with things like this and she read them as "exclamation mark exclamation mark exclamation mark exclamation mark" and "less than 3".

It really melted in seamlessly with the prose and gives me a little laugh as well every time I hear it. I wouldn't have thought it would work that way, but it was fantastic.

[fire_juggler]

(as an aside) I don't think that you would want to say "exclamation mark" 15 times. Maybe 4 or 5 with appropriate enthusiasm... :-)

[silentcs]

This works out perfectly, as "The Student Prince" was on my to-listen list, so now I can call it "research." It does sound rather charming to say "less than 3."

And yes, definitely with you on the not saying it the full 15 times. I'd be very unlikely to be able to say it that many times in a row; my brain would refuse to recognize it as a real word after that.

[sophinisba]

Yes, I was going to mention that too. The reading of "less than three" is SO CHARMING.

[podklb]

Oh man, the second half of this question is deeply relevant to my life right now, as my Podfic Big Bang piece is this. I've just been interpreting the emoticons as noises. It loses some of the information of what the exact emoticon in that moment was, but hopefully it keeps the emotion of it and seems natural in the flow of the story. I don't have any examples to show from that piece, since it's not done, but I did read "!!!" in this podfic (it happens near the end of the first scene) and I did the same thing there, translating it into a nonspeech noise. So you can check that out if you want to get a feel for how I approach that stuff and whether it's something that you think works.

[silentcs]

I just got a chance to listen to Outside the Rules, and the part where Gerard goes !!! actually made me laugh. I think it really worked there to express his utter indignation. Thank you for sharing!

[concinnity]

I am going to go friend you right now just for making the attempt to podfic that story.

[falterering]

!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I am also reading this never happened, and I am ridiculously excited that we're both doing it, and that we have different takes on this challenge. I can't wait to hear yours (when it's done, and mine's done, too.)

♥

[elfwreck]

Here from metafandom.

I would probably interpret a "!!!!" as some variety of squeak (what kind depending on the tone of the !!!!--scared, outraged, indignant, whatever) (except squeaks are high-pitched, and we don't really have a term for deep-voiced squeaks), and "..." might be a sigh/groan sound, something like Marge Simpsons "Hmmmmm" only without the "mmm."

In fic, it's often used to indicate silence with a particular type of glare, but that doesn't translate well to sound. It would work okay as a kind of almost-voiceless breath in most cases.

I've written fic where I used punctuation or what I knew was the wrong word to describe the sound in my head, because English doesn't have a term for those sounds. This is especially common in sex scenes; there's only so many times you can say "oh" or "aah" in a fic.

I got nothin' for the <3333's, though. "Heartssss!" might work.