Tips on Dialogue

[Avibiel Jeremiah]

Direct discourse. Or dialogue is traditionally enclosed in quotation marks. A change in speaker is usually indicated by a new paragraph, as in the following excerpt from Huckleberry Finn. If one speech occupies more than a paragraph, the rule for repeating opening quotation marks at the beginning of succeeding paragraphs applies.

"Ransomed? What's that?"

"I don't know. But that's what they do. I've seen it in books, and so, of course, that's what we've got to do."

"But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?"

"Why blame it all, we've got to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?"

Paragraphing doesn't have to depend on a change of speaker. Different speeches may sometimes be run into a single paragraph (thus, saving space).

Every line.  Avoid letting speakers repeat through dialogue what the reader already knows. Let the flow of the scene continue without a hitch. A good storyline carries on dialogue that feels like new news on every line.

 

 

[Avibiel Jeremiah]

Citation to the post above:  The Chicago Manual of Style, paperback book edition, 15th edition 2003 by Turabian, Kate L. Chapter 11.43; page 456.