slitheringink:

A Quick Guide

Dialogue is sometimes tricky to format so I came up with this guide to help you nail it in your writing.

1. Who Said What? – Be sure the reader knows who is speaking. When you have a new speaker, move it to a new line and use a dialogue tag with that character’s name. You can remove dialogue tags entirely or swap to pronouns when the speaker is clear. Always be careful when writing dialogue; you never want to confuse your reader, and it’s very easy to do.

2. Nestled in Quotes – Dialogue belongs between two quotation marks. It’s up to you if you want to use single or double quotes, because technically both are correct. I use double quotes because that’s how I was taught. Note that whatever one you decide to use, you need to be using the opposite for speech inside of speech.

3. Remember Commas! – To punctuatedialogue, you need a comma to join speech and tags. Do not use a period. Make sure the commas are inside of the quotes. This example is correct: “We’re learning about dialogue today,” I said. Where as something like this is wrong: “We’re learning about dialogue today.” I said. Remember that tags on their own are actually fragments (incomplete sentences).

Style Notes and Specifics

• Tags – You can use said in a dialogue tag before or after the character’s name. It doesn’t matter, and it’s entirely up to personal preference.

• Capitalization: Interruption – When you’re interrupting a single sentence with a dialogue tag or an action, it’s going to look like this: “I do believe,” he cleared his throat, “that you’re a fool.” There will always be a comma after the tag and only the start of the sentence is capitalized, because this is a complete thought.

• Capitalization: Two Sentences – When you’re splitting two sentences with a dialogue tag or an action, it’s going to look like this instead: “I do believe that you’re a fool,” he cleared his throat. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Here you have two separate thoughts. The period for the second sentence always goes inside of the tag.

• Pronouns – The pronoun in a dialogue tag doesn’t get capitalized unless it’s starting the sentence.

• Dialogue that Trails Off – “I don’t know what to do…” Use elipses here but use them sparingly. Some writers tend to get carried away with them.

• Cut Off by Another Speaker – “But, I thought that you were a –” Us an em dash. The speaker may or may not have a chance to resume his thought, but if he does, use another em dash at the beginning when he continues.

• Complete Sentences – Dialogue itself doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. People can speak in fragments.

Other Correct Examples:

• “I’m beginning to understand this now,” Morgan said. “It all makes sense!”

• Morgan said, “I can feel my mind expanding from the knowledge.”

• “The power! The absolute power!” said Morgan.

• “Yes, I quoted Jafar there. Do you want to fight about it?” Morgan assumed a fighting stance and then spoke quickly under her breath, “You’ll probably win.”

Happy writing!

-Morgan