#punctuating dialogue

[olivieblake]

Hi! 🤗 I wanted to ask how do you write dialogues. Like, the punctuation of the dialogues. I've translated one of my OS (one of the Marauders doing things) into English, and I want to make sure it's as perfect as possible before sending it to any beta to correct it (know any?), and I'm struggling A LOT with the dialogues. In Spanish, is super easy once you know the rules. In English, I'm going crazy because I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHERE OR HOW I'M SUPPOSED TO PUT COMMAS IN BETWEEN DIALOGUES. Help? 🙏

Hi hi hi! I’m so glad you’re asking because to be totally honest, punctuation is an easy litmus test for me; if I have doubts about the quality of the writing, I look to see if the dialogue is formatted correctly. If it isn’t, 9/10 times I’ll stop reading. SO, in conclusion, I’m happy we’re discussing this now!

1. Put a spoken sentence in double quotation marks.

“This is a motherfucking sentence.”

2. Dialogue tags (the she said/he asked/they answered parts) stay outside the quotes and get separated by a comma.

“Dialogue is easy,” Olivie said. “See how there’s a comma right there? Sometimes people use a period, but that’s just not fucking correct.”

or

Olivie advised, “Be sure to use a comma when separating the dialogue tag from the rest of the sentence, you beautiful fairy princess!”

3. If something happens before or after the dialogue, it gets its own punctuation.

Olivie screamed. “I love polka!” 

is me screaming first, and then saying I love polka; which is different from:

Olivie screamed, “I love polka!”

which is just me screaming about polka.

4. Punctuation goes inside the quotes. If a dialogue ends with an ellipsis (…) or em dash (—), don’t add extra punctuation.

“I guess I’ll just keep talking about—” she trailed off. “What the fuck was I saying?”

5. Dialogue that is quoting someone else goes inside the double quotation marks with a single quotation mark.

“Well, as Sally once said, ‘love is murder,’” Olivie declared; quite unnecessarily, as nobody had asked her to speak.

6. START A NEW PARAGRAPH WHEN THERE IS A NEW SPEAKER. This is so important, please always do this.

“Oh my god,” Sally gasped. “What the fuck?”

“I agree,” Olivie concurred, staring at the mai tai. “There’s not nearly enough small umbrellas in this mai tai.”

7. If something interrupts the dialogue, it’s still part of the same sentence, so it remains in lower case letters.

“You,” Sally began, winking outrageously, “are a bang tidy piece of ass.”

is different from:

“Hush, my gay lover,” Olivie wailed. “Where I come from, you’re DEAD!”

…and that should be enough, but let me know if I’ve missed anything!

[philosopherking1887]

Dialogue Punctuation PSA

While I’m being a horrible pedant (see my recent Grammatical PSA for a prior example of this), I’m going to try to clear up another usage problem that I see a lot in fic, including very well-written fic. Here’s the general principle:

When a line of dialogue is embedded in a sentence of narration, close it with a comma, not a period (though question and exclamation marks are OK) and don’t capitalize the first word of the rest of the sentence if it isn’t a proper name.

Here are some examples of the mistake I see people making and the correct punctuation.

Incorrect: “I have to go.” He said. Correct: “I have to go,” he said.

Incorrect: “It’s pretty late.” Said Bob. Correct: “It’s pretty late,” said Bob.

Incorrect: “I’m hungry.” Sam remarked. Correct: “I’m hungry,” Sam remarked.

Incorrect: “When’s dinner?” Asked Kim. Correct: “When’s dinner?” asked Kim.

Incorrect: “What a cute puppy!” The touch-starved grad student exclaimed. Correct: “What a cute puppy!” the touch-starved grad student exclaimed.

I do sometimes see people making a mistake in the opposite direction and closing a quotation with a comma even when followed by a sentence in which it is not embedded.

Incorrect: “I have to go,” he glanced anxiously at the clock. Correct: “I have to go.” He glanced anxiously at the clock.

I hope this is helpful to some people!

[cjjasp]

How the written universe works part 2: the physics of conversation #amwriting

How the written universe works part 2: the physics of conversation #amwriting

The supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A Star gives the spiral shape to our galaxy and keeps it together. Gravity is the force ensuring that “what goes into a black hole, stays in the black hole.” All around us, gravity works in hidden ways. Gravity on a small scale keeps everything securely stuck to the surface of Planet Earth. Except in my flying dreams. But I digress. In writing,…

View On WordPress

[aly-uchiha913]

8 Essential Rules for Punctuating Dialogue - article

Dialogue is a critical component to a great book: it drives action; it reveals character; and it relays facts and information. Writing reali

[dianerinella]

She Said - Using Creative Dialogue Tags

Song of the day: “She Said” – The Beatles

  Repeatedly reading the same dialogue tag can get tedious. Given that the average human knows over 25,000 words, there is no reason to rely on any of them.

Below is a list of dialogue tags to keep handy for those moments when you have heard or seen the word said too many times. There is a catch though. Many grammarians will tell you the proper way to write a sentence is, “‘Stop it!’ she said, assertively.” and not “‘Stop it!’ she asserted.”  The reason is that you cannot assert with your voice, but you can speak while sounding assertive. However, since creative dialogue tags can add life to a story, many editors feel that grammarians should look the other way.

Got some more great tags? Do you have any tips for not sounding like you are constantly rewriting The Beatles? Please let me know in the comments.

Need some help punctuating that dialogue? Check out this page on LitReactor.

acclaimed accused added admitted agreed announced answered argued asked asserted avowed babbled barked bawled beckoned beseeched begged belched bellowed bid (him/her/it) blubbered blurted boasted boomed bragged breathed cackled called carried on chastised chattered (on) chimed chocked chorused (in a group or in agreement) chuckled claimed clarified coached commanded compared complained condescends confessed confided continued countered cried croaked decided declared demanded denied denounced derived described disagreed droned exclaimed explained figured filtered fretted fussed gabbed gasped giggled grizzled groaned growled grumbled gurgled gushed hassled hinted hissed hollered howled huffed inform illustrated implored indicated inquired insisted inspected interfered interjected interrogated interrupted intervened jabbered (on) jested joked justified jollied lamented laughed lied mentioned moaned mumbled murmured mused muttered nagged objected ordered persisted persuaded pestered plead posed praised prattled on prayed preached pressed pressured pried proclaimed proposed pronounced protested purred quoted queried questioned quipped rambled ranted raved reasoned rejected related remarked repeated replied requested resisted responded retorted revealed rewarded roared said screamed screeched shouted showed shrieked sided sighed smiled smirked snapped snarled sneered snickered sobbed spoke sputtered squabbled squawked squeaked stammered stated stuttered suggested sung supported tempted thought aloud trembled told (him, her, it) urged uttered voiced voted wailed warned whimpered whined whispered wished worried yammered yawned yelled yelped

She Said – Using Creative Dialogue Tags was originally published on Diane Rinella, Author