Conversation is the thing I have most difficulties with while writing stories. How do I write a conversation so it will be clear who said what, and in a way that's not like a court transcript?
Should I start a new line with each sentence of dialog? Just one paragraph? Should I use quotation marks?
Should I indicate the speaker's name after every sentence? If not, how do I make it clear who is the speaker? The major problem is when I need a fast pace, like in an argument. It looks like calling the speaker's name every time just slows the scene down.
Answer
Generally accepted structures, which are used for clarity:
- Each time the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph. The speaker may start and stop, and you can have narration and action tags, but as long as that person continues, it can be the same paragraph. You may start a new paragraph with the same speaker if it's clear that the person is continuing to speak, like if the person is giving a long speech.
- Dialogue gets some kind of punctuation to set it off from narration. This punctuation varies from country to country. Americans use double quotes ", Brits use single quotes ', the French use guillemets «, and I've seen various dashes and hyphens.
- You should add some kind of tag, speaker or action, any time it's not clear who is speaking. I wouldn't go more than four or five exchanges without a tag of some kind, but you might be able to go longer if for example, there are two people speaking two different languages. When in doubt, use a tag, and then ask your beta reader or editor if any can be removed.
- Tags can be "he/she," a name, or a descriptor (the doctor, the detective, the woman, the younger man, the captain, the Vulcan, the Southerner).
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