Questions tagged [dialogue]
He said, she said, or what your characters are saying.
21 questions from the last 365 days
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How is multi-sentence dialogue in prose punctuated when dialogue tags do not end the sentence?
Dialogue tags conventionally will be punctuated in a way that follows the structure of the dialogue itself:
"This is a sentence," Alice said. "This is another sentence."
But what ...
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2
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71
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Equivalent idioms for "Throw me a bone"
The phrase "throw me a bone" is now forever linked to Dr. Evil (Mike Myers). Are there any equivalent idioms or common modern slang that I can use for a comedy bit? Being literal, like "...
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How to use colons for speech marks
I am trying to use colons for dialogue in a creative work. The purpose is to make a distinction between imagined dialogue and actual (fictional!) spoken dialogue, e.g:
An elderly lady opened the door....
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Quotation marks in dialogue for speech spoken by myself
In a dialogue between myself and other characters, should I use quotation marks on my own words?
Example:
"Clean the dishes ", my mom said.
I'll clean them later, I replied.
- 43
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Formatting my writing
I'm having trouble keeping tense or even knowing which one to stick to. Both seem to work but I'm not sure which sounds better or flows more. Also, I think too much about how to structure dialogue. If ...
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"Riiiight," he said. What synonym of said can be used here?
This the excerpt:
“I can take him,” a man standing beside the entrance interrupted. Approaching them, he continued, “I can take him there, Uncle Graham, help him find a room.”
“What are you up to ...
- 233
2
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1
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69
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How to format a dialogue with quotes of poetry?
I'm working on a typeset of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel Clouds of Witness. Sometimes the characters will quote poetry when they're speaking:
'Hurray!' said Peter.
'Then downwards from the steep hill's ...
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Should I use the speaker's native language for single word exclamations?
I'm writing in English and most of the dialogue is translated to English. But the character in question is actually speaking Dutch. In the instance when they touch something hot and jerk their hand ...
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How do you find examples of how a person from a particular place and time period would speak?
Is there a good resource for finding how someone from a certain time period would sound? In my particular example I'm thinking early 1900s Kansas, but I'm also looking for how to do this generally.
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Is there a hard rule about where to place action beats from a nonspeaking character in the middle of a speaking characters dialogue?
Which of the following is correct?
"Yes," I said. "I'm fine with it." She stared at me silently. "Why don't you take the day and think about it? I mean, neither one of us ...
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When I am writing dialogue, if the character speaks childishly, would people think I am a bad author?
I am writing a novel right now, so I need some clarification for this.
When writing dialogue about a childish character that will grow and become more mature, will people assume I couldn't write ...
- 103
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How would you format dialogue that is in the middle of a sentence?
Below I will provide an example sentence in various forms to demonstrate what I mean. I want to see which punctuation is correct or most widely accepted. My assumption is an example will be correct ...
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3
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120
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Writing commands in dialogue
I have three characters Alice, Bill and Charlie.
Alice is the captain of the group and is giving a command.
What I am trying to convey: Alice commands Charlie to lock the door.
How do I write it with ...
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4
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In dialogue, what is the best way to show an action as well as dialogue from two different characters?
I'm writing a book, and there's a point I've come up to where there's an action, plus dialogue from two different characters. Here's the excerpt:
“What do you want for her?” Dane asked. The man ...
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How do you describe someone who's talking while brushing their teeth?
I don't think there's a specific word for that, so how would you describe it?
The scene is that someone shouts something while they're in the bathroom, brushing their teeth. It's still intelligible, ...
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If a quotation makes up all of a person's speech does it still need to be in its own quote marks?
I have the following speech in a book I'm designing:
Seeing him hesitate, she said lightly, ‘“‘There’s both meat and music here,’ quoth the dog as he ate the piper’s bag”!’
Essentially someone is ...
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How to correctly portray sign language between multiple characters
I am writing a book where one of the main characters only uses sign language to communicate, and all of the speaking characters communicate using ASL whilst also speaking aloud at the same time.
Is ...
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How do I write a sexist narrator without coming off as sexist myself?
I'm writing a script for a short movie, but I'm not sure if the introduction sounds clear enough. For context, the narrator is supposed to believe in "old-fashioned" values. Specifically ...
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How do I properly present dialogue in a scene with two female characters?
When writing a conversation between two female characters, I found myself using their names over and over instead of using pronouns. If I use 'she' for both of them, it's confusing to read because it ...
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How do I write a story in which no one can understand each other?
I have this story I want to write where there's different species that each speak their own different language, but none of them can understand each other at all.
Then the main character comes and ...
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What's the best way to write a 2-person story, primarily involving interaction?
I am writing a short story that only has 2 characters, and is written in the third person. I am deciding between script-type writing:
Character 1: "Wow! these are my words!" He smiles
...
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