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"Character's response boils down to: "Short Version" " is the generally accepted way to paraphrase a verbose explanation, but you can also quote snippets of the character's speech (although that may lead in losing the meaning). For example:
Character: And he said that I was a fool. [...]note So then I called him a fool too!
- Fly, robin, fly! - ...I'm trying!
I think summarizing the quote is usually the best solution, unless the exact wording is important, in which case it may be better to quote just the important parts.
In general, I've seen a lot of overly-long examples on this wiki which quote entire paragraphs or describe every action taken by a character, or even an entire plot, when a short summary would have sufficed.
Summarizing is not only more concise, but may also be clearer, since you're just describing the relevant aspects of what was said or done.
I'm working on the draft of an example of Did I Just Say That Out Loud?. The actual in-character quote is about a paragraph long. (The character is fairly verbose, and may have... embroidered what she said when documenting it in her journal)
In the interests of Clear, Concise... I'm considering paraphrasing, as the gist can be wrapped up in two short sentences.
Is this generally accepted? If so, is there a preferred format? I'm thinking something like:
or
Character's response boils down to: "Short Version"
Edited by underCoverSailsman