Dialogue Part One: Technicalities

We all want to write realistic, witty, quotable dialogue that brings life to our stories. But first, we need to know how to structure spoken word within a manuscript. It doesn't matter how eloquent, how clever, or how thought-provoking our dialogue is if the reader is busy figuring out who said what to whom.

First things first: Quotation marks.

They go on either side of the words a character is speaking.

"I want to write a book."

Dialogue Tags.

A dialogue tag is one way to let the reader know who is speaking. It is used when simply stating who is speaking.

"Turquoise is my favorite color," Melanie said.

When indicating the speaker after dialogue, a comma is used before the second quotation mark and the speaker is stated after, followed by a period.

Melanie said, "Turquoise is my favorite color."

When indicating the speaker before dialogue, a comma comes before the first quotation mark and a period is placed before the second quotation mark.

Also, the first word within the quote is capitalized.

"Turquoise is my favorite color," she said.

In this example the speaker is indicated by a pronoun, therefor she is not capitalized.

She said, "Turquoise is my favorite color."

In this example, the pronoun begins the sentence, therefor she is capitalized.

If asking a question or yelling an exclamation, the comma within the quote is replaced by the appropriate punctuation.

"Do you know my favorite color?" Melanie asked.

Melanie asked, "Do you know my favorite color?"

"I can't believe you forgot my favorite color!" Melanie shouted.

Melanie shouted, "I can't believe you forgot my favorite color!"

What if we want to interject a single quoted sentence with a dialogue tag?

"Turquoise is my favorite color," Melanie said, "but I like all shades of blue."

Or split two sentences with a dialogue tag?

"Turquoise is my favorite color," Melanie said. "What's yours?"

Action Tags.

An action tag is another way to indicated who is speaking. It is used to show the reader who is speaking through actions.

"Don't forget to lock the top lock." Cady points to the door.

When indicating the speaker using an action tag, we separate them with periods.

Cady points to the top lock. "Don't forget to lock the top lock."

It doesn't matter if the quote comes after the action.

The rule doesn't change for dialogue that asks a question or exclaims.

"Did you remember the top lock?" Cady raises an eyebrow.

Cady barges into the apartment. "You didn't lock it!"

What if we want to frame the quote with two actions?

Cady closes the door. "Are you going to lock it, or should I?" Without waiting for an answer, she slips her key in the lock.

Conversation.

Unless your character is talking to herself, there will be multiple speakers.

There needs to be a new paragraph when changing speakers.

"Do you want some French fries," Zach asks.

Brenna perks up. "Really?"

He nods. "Got them to share with you on purpose."

From across the table, Susan pouts. "I thought you only shared your fries with me."

"I used to. Then I saw you eating fries off Colt's plate. Now I share fries with Brenna."

"His fries are better than yours."

"Yeah," Colt says, puffing his chest. "You hear that? Mine are better."