A character says that somebody else heard something from a neighbour. By the time the report reaches you, several voices may stand between the event and the sentence on the page.
Draw a small chain for one rumour. Begin with the event as described, if the text gives it at all. Add each person who passes on the account, ending with the speaker or narrator delivering it now. Put a question mark where a link is missing.
A cautious “perhaps” may become “apparently” and then a confident assertion. Alternatively, a later speaker may introduce doubt that was absent before. Quote only the few words needed in your own notes and keep the page references.
Do not decide that the rumour is false merely because the chain is long. The exercise identifies how knowledge is presented, not a mechanical test of truth. The novel may later confirm the event while revealing that a speaker’s motive was misleading.
At the next appearance of the story, ask what has changed: the claim, its audience, or the consequences of repeating it. A version whispered in private can do different work when repeated in a public room.
Instead of summarising the passage as gossip, describe the specific transfer of information that makes the scene turn.
Editorial illustration from this site’s image library; not documentary evidence of the example or object discussed.
