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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/14427
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/14427
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You have several different options here, depending on what effect you're trying to achieve.

Chat room dialogue is a little tough to work with, because it's pure dialogue, with no emotion or action or simple visibility. Oftentimes, it's enough to say something like,

> "Roy chatted with Samantha. 'OMG my mom's addicted to FOX news like you wouldn't _believe_," Samantha wrote, and Roy grinned - that was Sam's mom to a T.

-- where you aren't recreating an entire conversation; you're just summing up the highlights, and you're focusing on one Point of View - here, Roy's - and showing the experience from his side.

If you do want to recreate chat at any length, what I've seen done a lot is custom formatting. If you choose a special font, and indent the text, it feels like a chat log that's "inserted" into the main text, like this:

![Chat excerpts within text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/akHDw.jpg)

(Full-size image [here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/akHDw.jpg). Source: ["Incarnate," Scott Ciencin](https://web.archive.org/web/19970810122530/http://www.randomhouse.com/lurkerfiles/incarnate/printeincarnate5.html) )

It doesn't have to be this specific font, and style choice. This is rather dated, from when chat rooms were a lot less sophisticated - and monospace courier gave a "computer-y" feel that seemed appropriate to chat rooms; now you'll hardly see Courier New on the web anywhere. But the association is still there, so you could use this same style, or - just pick a different distinct font, that gives the feeling you're going for.

Original score: 2