Proper Formatting For Speech

[Imelda]

Speech! A lot of people don't know how to format it properly because schools don't bother to teach things like that anymore. :rolleyes:

So here is my amazing guide on how to do it. I couldn't find a page on the web that details it, so I'm going to have to create my own. *Sigh* Take note, or one day you too will find yourself going through a 500 page document and altering every line of dialogue, because you can't use find and replace. :D

First off: You can use either "Hi!" or 'Hi!' -- it doesn't matter and is down to personal preference, or how lazy you are about hitting the shift key. :rolleyes:

Incorrect formatting:

'It is worth more than you are.' She said. An awful lot of people do this and don't even notice. It should be:
'It is worth more than you are,' she said.

The only time you use a full stop and a capital letter is if the 'tag' after the dialogue doesn't describe how it's done:

'But first, I will see what you can do.' She paused and looked around at the children.

If the dialogue is interrupted by an action or tag, it can either be a comma or a full stop, depending on whether the first part of the dialogue is a complete sentence:
'That was dreadful,' Lady Thenin snapped. 'I expect better.' (Complete sentence)

'That was dreadful,' Lady Thenin snapped, 'and I expect better.' (Incomplete sentence)

Ok, I'm bored now. :D I'll add more examples later, such as what to do about tough tags like 'sighed' and 'laughed'.

EDIT!

'Sighed' is not a way to describe speech! Have you ever tried sighing while you speak? It's harder than licking your elbow. So when someone's feeling miserable, use a full stop and a capital letter:
'I feel just miserable.' She sighed.

'Laughed' is sometimes a different matter. Many people say that you can't laugh speech, and in most cases it isn't true, but sometimes you can. If your character is being tickled, then I'd say use a comma:
'Get off me!' she laughed, as Bob tickled her again.
If your character is an evil type revealing their diabolical plots to the world:
'And then I will kill you all!' She laughed madly.

[~Megan~]

Wow, that was a truly amazing guide. ;)

I have one thing to add!

It is best to always use said instead of other words for your tags. Said is just like 'a' or 'the' to read-- its invisible, so the reader barely notices it. You describe the characters facial expressions and stuff like that to show exactly how they're reacting.

[Imelda]

Well, it's not complete yet. There are a whole bunch of other examples that need to go up there. :D

As for 'said'--I completely disagree. LotR uses 'said' almost exclusively and it drives me to distraction. THERE ARE OTHER WORDS!!!!! The secret is to use them very sparingly, and only when appropriate. There's no need to put a tag after every bit of speech, and for me that's much better than saying 'said' every line.

[Maelspike]

Agreed there. The trick is to alternate between "said", no speech tags, and an occasional other word. "Said" is fairly neutral though - meaning, four "said"s in a row are less distracting than two "replied"s.

[Imelda]

Agreed? *Dies of shock* :p

Four 'saids' in a row is just irritating, though. It's such a clunky word. I hate it. For me, I envision a sort of blank face when something says 'he said', because it hardly means anything. I don't think I explained that very well ... :S

[Maelspike]

No, I know what you mean. I hate the word too, I'm always reading back and getting annoyed because I've used two "said"s in a row. Trouble is that you often don't have a lot of choice.

[Imelda]

Untrue! Unless it's a confusing conversation (like that cool/uncool one in Beer Ocean--which you hardly put tags in anyway) you can usually get away without using a tag, especially if you combine it with an action. Unless you have two people in straitjackets, you can usually get away with it. :p

[Maelspike]

Yes, you can - but when you're writing a conversation betwee, say, three people, you can't be throwing in actions every other sentence, or leaving out the speech tags regularly - you'll have to use a lot of speech tags, and when you do, you can't consistently use other tags than "said". It becomes tiring to read.

[Imelda]

*Sticks tongue out in ruder manner than ':p' conveys*

That means you're right. :(

[Imelda]

*Coughbumpcough*

Some of these guides need stickying ...

[Calamire]

*Coughbumpcough*

Some of these guides need stickying ...
True dat!

Can you add something to this guide, for when someone lists quotes? Like:

Words like "nothing," "grateful," and "weird"

And how this is wrong (I think)

Words like "nothing", "grateful", and "weird"

And also how someone saysa word within a quote:

"I don't know how to spell 'dissonance,' " he said (that's probably wrong, isn't it?) :rolleyes:

[Imelda]

I will do that ... when I've checked what is the actual way to do those things ...


Words like "nothing," "grateful," and "weird"

And how this is wrong (I think)

Words like "nothing", "grateful", and "weird"

I'd do it the second way, you see ...


And also how someone says a word within a quote:

"I don't know how to spell 'dissonance,' " he said (that's probably wrong, isn't it?) :rolleyes:

Yeah, that looks wrong.

You don't happen to have that Chicago style manual or whatever it is, do you? I'm going to get a copy of Strunk and White, which I think will solve those things, but it'll be a while since I've already spent far too much at Amazon this month, and since I have no prospects of employment ... I should ease off a little. :(

[Tekcor]

Hokay.
This may be obvious and i'm just dim, but what if there is no "she said" [or equivalent] after speech, just more speech?
eg
"I'm sorry for borrowing your toothbrush."
"It's okay," she said.

Or is it

"I'm sorry for borrowing your toothbrush,"
"It's okay," she said.

Or does it not matter?

[Calamire]

"I'm sorry for borrowing your toothbrush."
"It's okay," she said.

^^ That's the right way to do it. Only use a comma if there's a dialogue tag like "said" or "whispered" after the quote. Yes, it matters.

And when needed: you use a question mark or exclamation point whether there's a dialogue tag or not.

[Tekcor]

Thank you.
Now I will commit it to memory. -Concentrate-

[Mumbling Sage]

What if you have a dash in the middle of a line?

"Like this--" she paused as a bird flew into the window again.

[Imelda]

What if you have a dash in the middle of a line?

"Like this--" she paused as a bird flew into the window again.

In that exact example, you've done it mostly right, but the s needs capitalising, because the pausing isn't part of the speech.

[Twigg]

I have read this and found most of it really useful, because I am really bad at formatting my speech.
I was just wondering how just would do speech if you had a question mark/exclamation mark. :unsure:

Would it be:

"What time is it?" She asked.

Or

"What time is it?" she asked.

[Imelda]

"What time is it?" she asked.

That's the right one because the fragment after the speech describes how the speech is said. :)

[Carraka]

I was bored, so I just tried to figure out if I could sigh while talking. Then I tried to figure out if I could laugh while talking. Then I tried to figure out if I could yawn while talking.

And yes, I can. For all three. Very realistically.

On the other hand, if someone sighs, laughs, or yawns dialogue, I think of it as verb abuse.

Therefore I must propose that some things done in real life can't be done in literature, and I don't understand why.

Or maybe my definition of sighing is different from your definition of sighing?

[Imelda]

I'm glad you found this useful. :)

I'll work myself up to a semi-colon tutorial at some point. I tend to find they're more intuitive than anything else, once you fully understand them, so it might take me a while. :p

[Carraka]

I won't be able to do it as well as Imelda, so I'll give you a one-sentence tutorial while you wait for her to do the explanation.

A semicolon is like a period; it joins related sentences and does not need a conjunction.