Tabular inside multicols

Question

I would like to create a two column {book} type document. Lets say it is a dialog, like a play. Each actor says something. So I would like to indent the monologs properly.

Like:

But using multicols and tabular at the same time does not work.

\section*{Section}
\begin{multicols}{2}
   \begin{tabular}{ll}
        XY.A :&  Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you?\\
        XY.B :&  Hi, Thanks, fine\\
        XY.A :&  Cool, bye!\\
        XY.B :&  Nice talk, bye!\\
    \end{tabular}
\end{multicols}

Answer 1

Tabular is not the right approach IMHO. There are several better ways to do this with lists, for instance:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol,geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum} % dummy text
\usepackage{hang} % for dialog list
\begin{document}
\section*{Section}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{labeledlist}{Hermenegildo:}
\item[Alex:] \lipsum[1][1]
\item[John:] \lipsum[2][1-3]
\item[Horacio:] \lipsum[3][1-4] \linebreak
\item[Hermenegildo:] \lipsum[4][1-2]
\end{labeledlist}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

If indentation must not as big as the label width, then simply use a description environment (without any package) o something similar, as the drama environment, if you want this style:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol,geometry}
\usepackage{dramatist} 
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\section*{Section}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{drama}
\item[Alex:] \lipsum[1][1]
\item[John:] \lipsum[2][1-3]
\item[Horacio:] \lipsum[3][1-4] \linebreak
\item[Hermenegildo:] \lipsum[4][1-2]
\end{drama}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

See also the packages dialogue, tasks y enumitem.