Okay, if you're an aspiring writer, you have what you think is a terrific idea for a novel, and believe me, I honestly think you DO have a great idea for a novel---you're ready to go. Right? Or maybe, Write? What should you do before you actually get started writing?
I recommend formatting your word document so that the first line of each new paragraph automatically indents itself five spaces. Will save you time, effort and won't intrude on your thought process when you're on a roll to pause, count to 5 as you hit the space bar, every time you start a new paragraph. If you don't know how to do this, click on "FORMAT" up in the toolbar of your word program, when you have a page open. Go to "PARAGRAPH" and find "SPECIAL" or whatever your option is for setting it up. Click "first line," then in the next box, click the arrow until you see the number 5. Save. You're set. While you're formatting, also set your line spacing to double spaced. It's easier on your eyes, honestly. Use Times New Roman, 12 point for the font, and you're set.
Ready and Set, now GO!
Dialogue needs to be enclosed with quotation marks and punctuated properly, as well as tagged so we know who is speaking. I have some opinions on tagging that I'm going to share with you, too, after a few examples of dialogue.
The punctuation ALWAYS goes inside the quotation mark, at the end of the sentence, no matter what the punctuation mark is:
"Look! It's a fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien from outer space!"
"Have you seen the fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien from outer space?"
"The fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien is in a meeting with the President."
If you are going to tag (attribute a speaker) AFTER the dialogue, then the sentence, unless it's an interjection (!) or question (?) ALWAYS ends with a comma (,):
"The fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien and the President will be giving a press conference today at 1 pm, Eastern Standard Time," the newscaster announced.
Each time the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph:
"Look! It's a fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien from outer space!" the woman shouted.
"Cool beans. I didn't hear that we were going to be hosting a movie set here in Podunk," a man answered.
"I don't think this is a movie, Fred. Can't you feel the heat from the UFO? Maybe someone should call the mayor and have him come out to officially greet the, uh, aliens," the woman said.
If you tag the dialogue before, rather than after as in the examples above, then you use a comma after the tag, before the dialogue:
Fred spoke fast into his cell phone, "Mr. Mayor! Come quick! We're being invaded by fuzzy green and purple polka dotted aliens from outer space!"
Now, a word about tags...
Put the thesaurus away. It's not necessary to find ten different ways to not use "said." When all is (ha ha) said and done, "said" is the least obtrusive speech tag. It does the job if all you want to convey is who spoke. HOWEVER, that (ha ha again) said, tags don't have to JUST convey who spoke. Tags can show emotions or actions that draw a bigger word picture for the reader. Show what the characters are doing as they speak. How they are feeling. SHOW, not TELL. If you're relying on adverbs (ends in -ly, in most cases), then you are very likely telling the reader, rather than showing the reader. (She said softly. He replied quickly. She asked quickly.) Show vs. Tell is for another blog post entirely, but is worth mentioning here, with a little example to illustrate how to tag dialogue with actions and emotions.
In the examples above, the woman shouted; the man answered and the woman said. It does the job, but it's rather boring. Notice the punctuation following the dialogue, and the capitalization. Let's mix it up a bit:
"Look! It's a fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien from outer space!" The woman pressed one hand to her chest, over her pounding heart. She pointed with her free hand, and her entire arm shook with her fear.
"Cool beans, Sally. I didn't hear that we were going to be hosting a movie set here in Podunk." He lowered the newspaper he read, to peer over it. His glasses perched on the end of his nose, and he looked mildly curious, but he wasn't as alarmed as his wife.
"I don't think this is a movie, Fred. Can't you feel the heat from the UFO? Maybe someone should call the mayor and have him come out to officially greet the, uh, aliens." Sally thought about fainting, but if she didn't keep the video camera rolling, Fred wouldn't do it, and she'd have nothing to post on You Tube. Just wait until the girls in her Garden Club got sight of this. They would never believe her if she simply told them. Nope. Evidence always helped.
Fred realized an alien invasion was happening right in his very own backyard when an enormous shadow fell across his newspaper. He fumbled with his cell phone as he dialed the mayor's office. Without waiting to identify who he spoke to, Fred shouted, "Mr. Mayor! Come quick! We're being invaded by fuzzy green and purple polka dotted aliens from outer space!"
One final thing about dialogue and then I'll shut up:
Obviously, you can interrupt a character's speech with a tag, then pick up the dialogue again. Here are some examples.
"Look!" The woman pressed one hand to her chest, over her pounding heart. She pointed with her free hand, and her entire arm shook with her fear. "It's a fuzzy green and purple polka dotted alien from outer space!"
"Cool beans, Sally," her husband said. "I didn't hear that we were going to be hosting a movie set here in Podunk." He lowered the newspaper her read, to peer over it. His glasses perched on the end of his nose, and he looked mildly curious, but he wasn't alarmed as his wife.
Sally thought about fainting. "I don't think this is a movie, Fred." She couldn't do that, however---someone needed to keep the video camera rolling. "Can't you feel the heat from the UFO? Maybe someone should call the mayor and have him come out to officially greet the, uh, aliens."
Just a word of caution with dialogue interruptus...Limit how often you interrupt the dialogue of one character. You'll disrupt the flow and may wind up making the actual speaking part too hard to follow. You don't want the dialogue (action) to get lost in your pretty prose, now, do you?
Punctuating Dialogue
Using Dialogue Effectively
Punctuating Dialogue - How to Punctuate Correctly
Only self-educated is educated. Others are merely taught. ~Erno Paasilinna
1 comment:
I am leafing my comment.
I really love your leaves falling gently across my screen.
kathi h
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