# When two characters talk simultaneously **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459 "2004-05-04T13:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/1 "2004-05-04T13:41:28Z")
How do you portray two characters talking simultaneously, especially when they are not saying the exact same words (i.e.: in unison)? What effective means gets this across in dialogue (i.e.: in a novel)? And also, how is this properly done in a script? As an example, let’s say I want two to have characters…one says “yes” and the says “no” simultaneously. Of course, I am sure I have come across it in my leisurely readings, but I guess I never stopped to notice how the technique(s) is/are done effectively. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/2 "2004-05-04T14:17:20Z")
I have seen this done in scripts for stage in several diferent ways. If the two characters are saying different things, it’s usually written something like this. **Bob:** Yes! (simultaneous w/ Carol) **Carol:** No! (simultaneous w/ Bob) or: (_together_ ) **Bob:** Yes! **Carol:** No! If they’re saying the same thing, it’s usually just written together, as: **Bob & Carol:** Help! I’ve also seen several scripts where simultaneous dialogue is written in two (or more) columns on the page. I tried providing an example, but I couldn’t get the formatting to work in this post. I’ve seen this used chiefly when specific timing is necessary to the scene. And finally, a lot of it is done just with stage direction notes. Before the relevant dialogue, a note will simply state “Bob & Carol say their next speeches simultaneously”. Anyway, those are the main ways I’ve seen it done. hopefully, your dialogue is better than mine. thwartme ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/3 "2004-05-04T14:18:11Z")
When I was a senior in HS I was assigned in drama class to do a bit from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. One of the arguements between Big Daddy and Brick and it took me forever to figure out that we were supposed to be talking at the same time. It looked something like this. BD I never should have- B You were always pushing me to - BD gone to no doctors. They don’t - B be the star. Be the hero, but you nev- BD know nuthin 'bout nuthin. Those lying B -er asked what I wanted you self- BD bastards just take your money B-ish bastard. etc etc ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/4 "2004-05-04T14:38:21Z")
In a novel, write something like: Bob said, “No!” At the same time, Carol said, “Yes.” or: Bob said, “No!” as Carol said, “Yes.” or: Bob and Carol spoke simultaneously. “No!” said Bob. “Yes,” said Carol. ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/5 "2004-05-04T14:45:33Z")
**sugaree** : That would be great, except it’s clearly Bob that’s saying “Yes” and Carol that’s saying “no”… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/6 "2004-05-04T14:48:33Z")
I might just write “NYOES!” and then sort out who said what when afterward. Usually you get a lot of dashes in an argument like that. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/7 "2004-05-04T15:28:53Z")
Well, you know Bob and Carol. Those two could argue over whether the sky is blue… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/8 "2004-05-04T16:02:28Z")
The playwright [Caryl Churchill](http://www.womenwriters.net/editorials/PriceEd1.htm) has developed an entire new method of writing that covers this, and many other, eventualities (e.g. a character retaining the original ‘thought’ while making an aside, then returning to the thought). The result - if done well - is onstage dialogue onstage that is more realistic anything else I’ve ever observed. > [@](#): > > A speech usually follows the one before it BUT: > > 1. When one character starts speaking before the other has finished, the point of interruption is marked /. > e.g. > > MARGARET: I don’t dislike him / but that don’t mean I fancy him. > FRANK. And he don’t dislike you. Eh? Has he said that? > He don’t dislike you? He don’t dislike you. > > 1. A character sometimes continues speaking right through another’s speech: > > e.g. > > MARGARET. Your friend. I don’t like him / > FRANK. You fancy him. > MARGARET. like that, I quite like him. > > This applies even when the intervening speech is very long. (Sleepless 246) > > In examining Churchill’s directives one and two, the actor learns not only when his/her line begins, but also what words of the previous line spark the response. In the first exchange Churchill details, for the actor playing Frank, what causes the character to speak the next line: Margaret’s line, “I don’t like him,” before the forward slash. For the actors, this information exists as one of the most important clues in creating a Churchill character. “Notes on layout” should be viewed by actors as a guide to characterization and for actors trained in realism’s Method, Churchill’s language may be one of the only footholds in the traditionally slippery slopes of postmodern drama. These moments of “overlapping” language also signify to the actor instances of heightened conflict, where the needs and, therefore, the emotions intensify. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/9 "2004-05-04T16:15:24Z")
> [@thwartme](#): > > I’ve also seen several scripts where simultaneous dialogue is written in two (or more) columns on the page. I tried providing an example, but I couldn’t get the formatting to work in this post. I’ve seen this used chiefly when specific timing is necessary to the scene. One great example you can flip through in a bookstore is David Ives’s **All In the Timing** , specifically his spoken-word operetta “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread”. It is amazingly complex; the four readers each get a column of the page, and read down their own column. Where two readers share dialogue, that dialogue is centered in their columns. The script alone is masterful for how it communicates to the actors; the play is a mockery of Philip Glass’s minimalist and repetitive style. While you’re reading that compilation, you should check out “Variations on the Death of Trotsky,” because it’s funny, and one of the characters gets a mountain-climber’s axe buried in his skull. It’s Trotsky. He dies. ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-two-characters-talk-simultaneously/243459/10 "2004-05-04T17:46:24Z")
Cool, **jjimm** and **jurph** , I’ll have to check both of those things out. It’s neat to see what lengths writers will go to to communicate their intentions to the reader, and perhaps more specifically to the actor. I have a friend who’s a playwrite that crams his scripts full of ‘directions’ for the actors. He can barely write a sentence without throwing in a ‘spoken angrily’ or a ‘sotto vocce’ note. Of course, other scripts I have read have almost none of that. Shakespeare is the classic example. There are very few ‘stage directions’ in the Bard’s scripts, save ‘enter’ and ‘exit’. And of course ‘exit, pursued by bear’. The result is endless debate over text and subtext interpretations. So, I guess the OP has to clarify for themselves what they want to communicate by having two characters speak at the same time. Is it the timing of the speech? The emotional content? The effect it has on the listeners? Different intents will probably be better served by different styles. thwartme