Thread: How do I switch back and forth in scenes with close proximity (manuscript format)?

I'm setting up dialogue with two people in one room, then switching to another couple with a separate dialogue only a few feet away, and back. Both conversations are largely unrelated, but the scene calls for switching back and forth after only a few lines each.

I have been using the # sign to place breaks within chapters, but I don't know if this is appropriate for such a scene. Will it use a #, or should I finesse in text?

text

I would use a double line break between dialogue sections. This is usually reserved for a significant break in space and time, but I think it could do just as well for your situation.

The handling would depend on whose point of view you're writing from and why you're skipping from one conversation to another. If you're writing from one point of view (which might serve to anchor the scene), say a fifth person in the room, then they would only be able to pay attention to snatches of each conversation and it could be written all as one kind of fractured dialogue.

If you're doing something like a transcript or recording from a listening device in the room, though, the device might be less limited (if it's placed right it could pick up most of each conversation, say) and writing it with the double line breaks or else writing it as a transcript (with labels at the beginning of each line to indicate who is speaking) would work.

A little more information as to why you're setting it up like this would help.

Okay. I managed to work it out after some experimenting, and surprisingly it works just fine. I suppose it helps that the two character groups have very different dialogs.

Thank you.