10 Best Tips for Writing Dialogue: Formatting and Punctuation

Jenna Moreci
Jul 1
7 min read

HelloOoOo everybody!

Today we're covering part two in my series all about writing dialogue. In part one, we talked about characterization and voice. If you missed it, I got it linked right here. Today we're looking at the technical aspect: formatting, punctuation, paragraphs, and all that good stuff. We're covering the top ten tips for tackling the technical end of dialogue. If you have any issues with formatting or punctuation, this post is for you.

This video is sponsored by Skillshare. As always, all opinions are my own.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to also subscribe to my YouTube channel for more writing tips, sarcasm, and of course, more of Princess Butters!

Number 1: Write the Dialogue First

One of the issues writers have with writing long streams of dialogue is that they lose the flow of the conversation. They get sidetracked, sometimes they neglect the character's voices, or the voices start to blend together. This often happens because the writer is flip-flopping between writing dialogue and narrative. They're going back and forth between two very different styles of writing.

The easiest way to bypass this problem is to write the dialogue out in full, without any narrative at all. No dialogue tag, no body language, no gestures, description, just the voices. This will allow you to focus on the conversation, without getting distracted by influences outside of the voices themselves.

Additionally, this method mirrors the natural flow of conversation. When we're talking, we're not pausing to proclaim who is speaking, or to remark on whether or not our brow is furrowed. Once you've written the conversation out in full, read it over, give it an edit, and then add the narrative.

Number 2: Color Code the Voices

Another dialogue hack, especially if you're writing a conversation between many characters, is to color code the voices. One character’s dialogue is green, another character’s dialogue is blue, and the third character’s dialogue is red. This is helpful because it eliminates the confusion of figuring out who is speaking at which time, plus it will showcase if one character is monopolizing the conversation, or if another character is being left out. If the green character only has one line, maybe you don't need them in this conversation at all. Once you finish the conversation and you're happy with it, nix the color coding and move on.

Number 3: Caps-lock Is Not Emphasis

Internet speak has really fucked up our knowledge of the written language. When we're chatting with friends online we tend to use caps-lock to indicate emphasis. “He did WHAT?”

But in fiction, caps-lock doesn't indicate emphasis. It lets the reader know that someone is screaming. “HE DID WHAT!”

Before you feel the need to lay down on the shift key, ask yourself, “Is this character horrified right now?" Caps-lock is usually reserved for moments of terror because that's typically when people scream. If your character isn't wailing like a banshee and you just want to emphasize what they're saying, what you're looking for is italics. “He did what?”

You're welcome.

Number 4: The Dialogue Tag Is Part of the Sentence

A lot of people get confused when writing dialogue tags, namely when it comes to punctuation. Newbie writers often treat dialogue tags as their own sentences. They will have a line of dialogue ending in a period, followed by the tag “he said” also ending in a period. That ain't right.

If you're adding a dialogue tag to the end of a line of dialogue, then it is part of the sentence. Which means the punctuation needs to reflect that.

Let's start with the most basic situations:

If your character is simply stating a line of dialogue, and you end that sentence with a tag, the proper punctuation at the end of their dialogue is a comma.

“I’m saying a sentence,” he said.

If a character is yelling or exclaiming something, you can add an exclamation point at the end of their dialogue. However, do not capitalize the first letter of the dialogue tag, because it is still part of the sentence.

“I’m saying a sentence!” he said.

Lastly, say your character is asking a question. In this case, just like with the previous example, we add a question mark at the end of the line of dialogue. The first letter of the dialogue tag remains lowercase in order to reflect the fact that it is connected to the sentence.

“I’m saying a sentence?” he said.

Number 5: The Narrative Is Its Own Sentence

Sometimes when we write dialogue, we don't use dialogue tags, which in most cases is actually preferred. Instead, we cushion the dialogue with narrative. The character takes some kind of action or exhibits some kind of body language that makes it clear that they're the ones speaking. In situations like this, sometimes writers treat this with the same type of punctuation as you would use with a dialogue tag.

Incorrect Example:

Jenna clenched her fists, “Punctuation is important, dammit!”

This is wrong! A line of narrative that happens before or after a line of dialogue, and does not include a dialogue tag, is its own sentence. And the punctuation should reflect that.

Correct Example:

Jenna clenched her fists. “Punctuation is important, dammit!”’

The only exception to this is if the narrative somehow punctuates a line of dialogue.

Number 6: Don’t Reflect an Accent in the Dialogue

Sometimes when a character has an accent, the author will reflect this accent in the dialogue by misspelling some of the words in order to mirror the pronunciation. However, this sucks, so don't do it. I know you want readers to hear exactly how sexy this character's accent sounds, but all you did was give them a tongue twister. And I know you want readers to hear just how goofy this character's voice is, but that's actually pretty offensive. So maybe don't be a dick.

When you reflect the accent in the dialogue, the reader is stuck sounding out those words at a glacial pace, which is fucking annoying. Keep in mind, that this does not apply to broken English. If the character drops certain words when they speak, then you would do the same in the dialogue because, duh, they're not speaking those words. But when it comes to accents, describe how it sounds in the narrative, and then write the dialogue out normally. Your readers will thank you.

Number 7: People Speak in Paragraphs

Sometimes your characters will speak at length. Maybe they're telling a story or giving a speech. This is completely normal on relevant occasions, but please keep in mind that people speak in paragraphs. Your character story should not be one massive paragraph that lasts for pages and pages.

Dividing up paragraphs is simple. When the subject changes, the paragraph changes.

“But Jennaaa, the subject never changes. He’s telling a story!”

However, subjects change within stories all the time. Take Goldilocks and the Three Bears. When Goldilocks decides to try out the porridge, that's its own paragraph. When she goes to try out the beds, guess what? We change paragraphs because that's a new subject.

Number 8: Quotation Marks Are Weird

If your character is telling a long story, the kind that is reflected in multiple paragraphs like I just covered, then you're going to use quotation marks differently than you normally would. Say your character's dialogue is three paragraphs long and it is uninterrupted by any dialogue tags or narrative. You are going to start every single paragraph in the stream of dialogue with an open quotation mark. However, only the very last paragraph is going to end with a closing quotation mark.

Example:

“Paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph.

“Paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph.

“Paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph.”

“But Jennaaa, that looks so wrong.”

I know it looks wrong, but it’s so, so right.

Number 9: Thoughts Are Not Dialogue

Sometimes your characters are gonna think about shit. And when they do, you may be tempted to reflect their thoughts the same way you would as dialogue, with quotation marks. Don't do that. You'll reveal yourself as an amateur and open yourself up to a lot of hate. Thoughts are not spoken words, and thus they do not get treated as such. Instead, italicize your character’s thoughts. That way the reader knows that the voice sounding off is in your character's head and not coming out of their mouth.

Number 10: Read It Out Loud

One of the best tips for writing dialogue is to read it out loud, and this is true for a number of reasons. First, you'll be able to hear whether or not it's convincing. If you read your dialogue out loud and it doesn't sound like something real people would really say, delete it.

Second, you can track the flow. Does the conversation progress organically or is it clunky? Does it go off on tangents?

And third, you get a much better idea of pacing. If your conversation is supposed to be firing off but it's reading very slowly, that's a problem. Maybe the dialogue itself is too long. Or maybe you've added too many tags or too much narrative. All of this is so much easier to determine if you read it out loud to yourself or to a willing party.

So that's all I've got for you today!

Again, thank you so much to Skillshare for sponsoring today's video. I am so appreciative of everything that they've done for me as well as so many other creators throughout the world. If you're interested in learning more about writing, or the publishing industry, Skillshare is an obvious resource. Plus it's crazy cheap, an annual subscription is less than ten bucks a month.

*This post is sponsored by Skillshare. As always, all opinions are my own.

#writingtips #CyborgQueen #JennaMoreci

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