Multiple people saying the same thing at once: thoughts about double-double quotes?

[laccoff_mawning]

So I wanted to write a line where multiple people say the same thing at once. A quick google search suggests I should use a dialogue tag to convey this information. To give the example in my own work, it would read something like this:

Spoiler: dialogue tag

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison, before vanishing in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

But I remember reading (in probably a translation on NU or somewhere.) a similar situation, but instead of using a dialogue tag, they used double-double quotes:

Spoiler: The double-double quote

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!"" The four other heroes vanish in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

And I very much prefer it. I think it makes the story flow just slightly better. In this example it's hardly noticeable, but imagine if I didn't have an action after the quote, which feels pretty common if you want to have a crowd of people exclaim in surprise. Secondly, it tells me multiple people are speaking at once even before I reach the dialogue tag, rather than letting me think it's only one person speaking until I reach the dialogue tag.

Look at the same example without the group action:

Spoiler: #1

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison.

Spoiler: #2

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!""

The downside that I see is that it might look odd if you used single quotes for normal dialogue, since a double-single quote might just look like a double quote. I guess you could do a quadruple-single quote, maybe?

'Hey! Does a quadruple-single quote work?'

''''Huh?!''''

So here's my questions:
1. Have you seen a double-double quote used before for this purpose?
2. Do you think it's clear enough using a double quote to represent a crowd speaking at once.
3. What do you think about it in general? Which method do you prefer/use, if you've encountered this before?

 

[Ararara]

Never seen it, don't think most people would recognize it for what you want it to mean, and I wouldn't use it

 

[TheNonexistentOne]

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison, before vanishing in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

It's fine, I believe. I also write like this... But in past tense.

 

[Jerynboe]

This is an entirely new concept to me and seems utterly unneeded given that the context already implies multiple people saying the same thing.

 

[JordanIda]

If you can't find it in the Oxford Guide to Style or the Little Brown Handbook, it's post-literary newspeak balderdash.

All 50,000 spectators of the colisseum exhorted, as one, "Mercy!"

 

[The1stgod]

I typically prefer it to not have all things explained in silver platter, but don't be too vague..


So just, "Right" implies all of them speaking, let the readers make something in their mind too..

 

[rileykifer]

I've never seen it, and if I ever came across something like the second example, I would be very confused as to who was speaking and why there's double quotations, possibly assuming it's just a typo. First example is far more obvious.

 

[LiteraryWho]

If you really want to get "this is a crowd speaking" front and center in the readers mind, you can put the action of the group ahead of what they're saying. e.g. "The four look at me as one and yelled, 'Right.'"

 

[FRWriter]

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!"" The four other heroes vanish in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

Never seen that, it looks so stupid.

Just do it like your first example, it's 100% correct and the established norm.

 

[Lysander_Works]

I too have not seen it before. It's possible you got an AI result making something up, but, if the actual source backs it as correct, we'd all look like crazies.

I think the single quotations are fine, since it's still explained that multiple people shout the same at once anyway.

 

[PancakesWitch]

This is a such a non issue, you're worrying over nothing, it doesn't matter which way you use it. Nobody will care.

 

[triflight]

Unlike everyone else it seems, I have seen this before, I think only in translations though. I wonder if it's some remnant of translating from Chinese

Anyways, I think the double quotes look best if the speech is by itself as it is in example 2.

At the end of the day, do whatever you want. It's an extra quote, readers will either figure it out or ignore it, plus if you use it more frequently then readers will start to catch on. It's not grammatically correct but who cares? You're, assumingly, writing for fun so if you like it then use it!

Authors intentionally use bad grammar all the time so I think you can chalk this up to stylistic preference.

 

[Piisfun]

So I wanted to write a line where multiple people say the same thing at once. A quick google search suggests I should use a dialogue tag to convey this information. To give the example in my own work, it would read something like this:

Spoiler: dialogue tag

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison, before vanishing in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

But I remember reading (in probably a translation on NU or somewhere.) a similar situation, but instead of using a dialogue tag, they used double-double quotes:

Spoiler: The double-double quote

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!"" The four other heroes vanish in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

And I very much prefer it. I think it makes the story flow just slightly better. In this example it's hardly noticeable, but imagine if I didn't have an action after the quote, which feels pretty common if you want to have a crowd of people exclaim in surprise. Secondly, it tells me multiple people are speaking at once even before I reach the dialogue tag, rather than letting me think it's only one person speaking until I reach the dialogue tag.

Look at the same example without the group action:

Spoiler: #1

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison.

Spoiler: #2

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!""

The downside that I see is that it might look odd if you used single quotes for normal dialogue, since a double-single quote might just look like a double quote. I guess you could do a quadruple-single quote, maybe?

'Hey! Does a quadruple-single quote work?'

''''Huh?!''''

So here's my questions:
1. Have you seen a double-double quote used before for this purpose?
2. Do you think it's clear enough using a double quote to represent a crowd speaking at once.
3. What do you think about it in general? Which method do you prefer/use, if you've encountered this before?

Contrary to what some people have said above, this is an actual technique. It's not very common, and in fact it is more common in games where the dialogue boxes may not be able to highlight specific characters.

The major things to note:

1. Use three sets of quotations, not two.
2. This only works properly if you used curved quotations with slight spacing between them; it just looks like a typo otherwise.
3. This is best used on its own line for strong emphasis.

An example: an entire platoon of soldiers responding to orders from a drill sergant.
“““YES, SIR!”””
<immediately follwed by a scene break>

 

[JordanIda]

Maybe if it's four people speaking, it should be four quotes. """"Right?""""

 

[Hedgeboar]

So I wanted to write a line where multiple people say the same thing at once. A quick google search suggests I should use a dialogue tag to convey this information. To give the example in my own work, it would read something like this:

Spoiler: dialogue tag

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison, before vanishing in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

But I remember reading (in probably a translation on NU or somewhere.) a similar situation, but instead of using a dialogue tag, they used double-double quotes:

Spoiler: The double-double quote

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!"" The four other heroes vanish in pursuit of the Yellow Rat Clan.

And I very much prefer it. I think it makes the story flow just slightly better. In this example it's hardly noticeable, but imagine if I didn't have an action after the quote, which feels pretty common if you want to have a crowd of people exclaim in surprise. Secondly, it tells me multiple people are speaking at once even before I reach the dialogue tag, rather than letting me think it's only one person speaking until I reach the dialogue tag.

Look at the same example without the group action:

Spoiler: #1

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

"Right!" The four other heroes shout in unison.

Spoiler: #2

The woman in the blue hair speaks to her teammates. "You go after the others. I'll handle this one."

""Right!""

The downside that I see is that it might look odd if you used single quotes for normal dialogue, since a double-single quote might just look like a double quote. I guess you could do a quadruple-single quote, maybe?

'Hey! Does a quadruple-single quote work?'

''''Huh?!''''

So here's my questions:
1. Have you seen a double-double quote used before for this purpose?
2. Do you think it's clear enough using a double quote to represent a crowd speaking at once.
3. What do you think about it in general? Which method do you prefer/use, if you've encountered this before?

I see this somtimes, and I prefer it. Formal writing only needs to be used in a formal setting (essays, science paper, textbook, etc) Writing fiction is very informal, go for you hearts desire.