Yesterday I talked about punctuating dialog. One place that gets tricky is with exclamation points. If you use too many, it gets grating. Even though your character is still excited, angry, or agitated and probably yelling, using too many in succession tends to acquire the look and feel of a comic book.
Therefore, don’t over-use exclamation points! Save them for where they’re really needed for emphasis! Too many gets annoying and reduces their impact!
Capiche?
I’m always amazed when I encounter an indie published book where the author doesn’t know how to punctuate dialog. Seriously? I remember learning that back in elementary school. However, I’m old as dirt, so maybe that was another one of those things eliminated from school curricula. However, if you’re going to represent yourself as an author, then it’s your job to learn such things.
I have seen some really weird, albeit creative ways to convey characters conversing. However, as far as enhancing the story, forget it. It’s another one of those dreaded distractions that throws a savvy reader out of the story.
Here are the basics:
If it’s a simple statement, you use a comma, NOT a period. “I’m going to the store,” he said.
If it’s a question, then use a question mark. How obvious can it be? For example, “Do you need anything at the store?” The trick here is if it’s part of the narrative, then sometimes it’s ambiguous. I get that and have run into it myself a few times, especially when a character is wondering about something. Wondering, by it’s very nature, is a question. However, sometimes it’s not that obvious. In dialog, however, it should be pretty clear that something like “I wonder if he’s going to the store this afternoon?” is a question.
If someone is excited, angry, or speaking/thinking in an agitated state, then use an explanation point! “What do you mean you’re not going to the store? You said you were and I need some butter!”
It’s really not that hard, is it? Yet I’ve seen it done incorrectly numerous times. C’mon, indie authors! You can do better!
I’m amazed by how many authors don’t know how to punctuate dialog properly. I’ve seen periods instead of commas for statements, missing question marks, overuse of explanation points, lack of semi-colons, and multiple speakers in a single paragraph. Knowing these rules is an author’s responsibility. While not all readers will notice if you honk it up, experienced authors will. I remember learning this no later than high school, probably earlier. However, I’ve always been a writer at heart; that may be why that information stuck. Others, if they came to writing later in life, may have never paid attention and simply haven’t noticed it in reading.
Besides punctuation, which really ought to be obvious, the one mistake I see a lot is when one of the characters is on a long-winded speech or monologue. Visually, it’s good to break these into more than one, huge, eye-bogging paragraph. Great. So, if that’s the case. do it correctly.
The way you do that is to start it as you do all dialog with a quotation mark. However, if it goes on to a new paragraph, don’t use a close quote on the first paragraph. This tells the reader there is more to come from the same speaker. The new paragraph will start with a quotation mark, telling the reader it’s still someone speaking and not to be confused with prose.
It’s amazing how many authors don’t know this. Apparently, some editors don’t, either.
Proper copy editing is something that not every reader will notice. I do. One mistake I’ve noticed quite a bit in that department is the punctuation of dialog. Most people seem to know they need to use quotation marks. Amazingly, a few seem to miss that, but gratefully, it’s relatively rare. However, there are a couple goofs I’ve seen enough times to recognize that how to do it correctly is not common knowledge. After all, some of the best writers out there aren’t English majors.
Here’s one thing to watch for. When the same speaker continues speaking into the next paragraph, leave off the close quote. However, the next paragraph begins with a quote, so don’t forget that. This tells the reader that the same person is still speaking. Otherwise, they’ll expect someone else to pick up the dialog in the new paragraph.
Another thing I’ve seen quite a bit is using a period after a statement instead of a comma, when “he said” or “she said” is included. For example:
“I’m going to go to that Mexican place for lunch.” She said. WRONG
“I’m going to go to that Mexican place for lunch,” she said. CORRECT
Another is using a common or period when in reality the character asked a question. A question is indicated with a question mark, n’est-ce pas?
Little things like this drive alert readers well-versed in proper English and writing skills up the proverbial wall and are what can earn your story less than 5-stars.
I’m amazed how often authors don’t know the proper way to punctuate dialog. Even if you weren’t taught how to do this in school, you should have figured it out by reading novels that were properly edited.
Okay, here’s the scoop. Dialog is punctuated differently than a normal sentence. Rather than a period, use a comma, followed by “he said”, “she said”, etc. A question uses a question mark (?) and if the speaker is noted, it should say “he asked” or “she asked” or questioned or queried or even wondered, not “said”. A sentence that is an exclamation is punctuated with an exclamation mark (!).
In all cases, the “he” preceding “said” or “asked” doesn’t need to be capitalized. For example, “I’m going to the library,” he said. Or “Are you going to the library?” he asked.
I hope that I have insulted the intelligence of most of you with this 4th grade grammar lesson who already know this. But I am amazed by how often I see it done incorrectly by otherwise very talented authors. Being creative is really not in your favor in this area.
Marcha's Two-Cents Worth 