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How to format dialogue
When you’re physically writing dialogue there are certain rules that it’s necessary to stick to.These are: • Start a new line when a new person starts speaking. • Dialogue needs to be typed in inverted commas, pick either double (“) or single (‘), but whichever you choose be consistent with them. • Internal/inner dialogue (thinking) does not need to be in inverted commas. • Remember to show who is speaking, it needn’t be a ‘he said’ or a ‘she said’, an action works just as well providing we are told who is doing it. • During a discussion include a name of who is speaking after every five to six pieces of dialogue otherwise the reader may find themselves counting back to find out who actually said what. • Dialogue is always stronger if it has a sentence to itself rather then being slipped into the middle of sentence. Dialogue Tags Remember that the tag you put on your dialogue (he said, she asked, etc) doesn’t always have to go at the end of the speech. In fact placing it within what is being said will offer variation and different inflections, plus often give your dialogue a better flow. For example, by placing it mid-dialogue it can imply a pause, and therefore negate the need to add ‘he paused’. Example: ‘I’m not so sure, Marie,’ James said, getting up and walking to the window. ‘Maybe this time he really meant it.’ ‘I’m not so sure, Marie,’ James said, then paused. ‘Maybe this time he really meant it.’ Also, consider if you need to use any other tag than ‘said’. Yes, there are many to choose from (commented, responded, enquired, etc), but the dialogue and actions you use should ‘show’, you shouldn’t need to ‘tell’ the reader. If a character is shocked, surely their actions and word choice when speaking will show this, the reader doesn’t need to be told they ‘exclaimed’. There’s also the thought that when most people read ‘said’, they don’t actually read it because we are so used to seeing it. Have you seen the examples and posters of words that have the correct first and last letters but the middle ones are wrong? If you have then no doubt you understand that the brain often fills in the middle letters with the ones it expects to be there. The same I believe is true of ‘said’. If this is true it means that by using said, as opposed to other possibilities, the dialogue flows more smoothly and realistically. Why not try it out? Return to the LIST OF TOPICS |
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