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If your dialogue doesn’t follow
the basic guidelines for dialogue, you risk look like an amateur. So get to
know them very well. Here they
are:
1.Each time a new character speaks it is a new indented
paragraph.
“I love eating out,” I said.
“Yes, it is wonderful,” he said
touching his napkin to his lips.
2. When you use a tag such as “I said,” the dialogue is
followed by a comma.
“I love eating out” I said, is
incorrect because it is missing a comma after out.
3. If there is no tag, the dialogue ends with a period.
“I love eating out.”
“ Me too.”
4. If the dialogue ends in an exclamation point, the
exclamation goes inside the quotation marks.
“Please let me come!” she said.
4. If there is a complete sentence before dialogue, end the
sentence with a period.
I
grabbed my coat. “Let’s go.”
5. If it is not a complete sentence, and it is connected to
the speech tag, you use a comma.
“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing my
coat. Note that “grabbing my coat,” is not a complete sentence.
6. If in the above example you insert “as”, the sentence
does not need a comma.
“Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed my
coat.
“I
hate you,” she replied as she punched me in the stomach.
7. If you have a verbose character who goes on for more than
one paragraph, then you shouldn’t use quotation marks at the end of the first
paragraph. The second paragraph, however, should open with quotation marks.
“If the same speaker goes on for
what seems like more than one paragraph, then don’t use quotations marks at the
end of the first paragraph.
“However, the second paragraph
should open and close with quotation marks.”
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