CREATIVE WRITING 101
Are You Writing Dialogue? Here Are the Basics
Author J. F. Danskin explains how to correctly format and punctuate reported speech in your writing
In the dozen novels and novellas I’ve published so far as a fantasy author, I must have written hundreds of conversations between characters.
There are a lot of rules to getting dialogue right on the page. Here, my goal is just to show you how exactly you should we format and punctuate direct ‘reported speech’ when writing fiction.
First, the basics. Reported speech is always written with quote marks around it, like this:
“Use quote marks,” he said.
The convention is to use double quotes… except where someone is talking about what another person has said. In that case, we can use single quotes inside the double quotes, as follows:
“Okay,” said Olynka. “When she says ‘go’, then we all make a run for it.”
Another key rule is to separate each line of dialogue with a line break, so that it’s clear who is speaking.
We often include speech tags, such as she said or he answered after a line of dialogue. However, you don’t have to use a speech tag. Using too many can make your writing sound simplistic and repetitive. Instead, you can indicate who is speaking by describing what a character is doing alongside the reported speech, like in this example:
Etienne rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
You can immediately see two things from the example above. Firstly, it adds color to the scene, making it easier to visualise and telling us something about the individual’s personality. Secondly, a speech tag is unnecessary––we know who is speaking.
The clarity of who is speaking is a key concern, and as such, speech tags are often included to avoid ambiguity. For example, it would be very hard to follow if there was just line after line of dialogue with no speech tags or descriptions at all.
Similarly, if two women were speaking, it wouldn’t be very helpful to put she said after every line. Make sure that it is clear who said what — and otherwise, minimise the use of speech tags.
Note that reported speech typically ends with a comma, not a full stop, and that the speech tags begin with a small letter. So:
“Like this,” she said.
And never:
“Like this.” She said.
And even if the speech ends with an exclamation mark or question mark, you still proceed with a small letter afterwards:
“Like this?” she asked.
(Be careful with that one, as some writing software will automatically capitalise the next letter after a question mark!)
You can also vary speech tags by using verbs other than ‘said’, but don’t take this too far — again, it can sound amateurish:
He explained. She uttered. They declared.
You don’t want every line of dialogue tagged with a verb that sounds like it came from a thesaurus. Use them with care.
Finally, it’s worth noticing that reported speech is often split into two or more parts, with descriptions of what a character is doing in the middle. This makes dialogue more engaging, because it helps us to picture the scene. For example:
“Uh… really?” said Alcar, as several more guards closed in. “Well, man — if I see them, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Okay. I think that covers the basics.
Now let’s take a look at this example from my recent web-novel, Sorcerer, Level 1. At this point in the story, we find the main character Alcar talking with two companions, after having been kicked off their apprenticeship by the master sorcerer:
“Well,” said Alcar, swishing the last third of his ale in the bronze tankard and then gulping it down. “It looks like that route is closed. What an opportunity lost. It’s really a disaster.”
“Perhaps not for me,” said Olynka. “I don’t care what happens. But I can see that it sucks for you guys.”
Etienne wiped froth from his wispy beard, and then peered at her. “So you’re another one that didn’t really want to be an apprentice, girl?”
She frowned at him. “The name’s Olynka. I’m seventeen, and could easily beat you in a fight — don’t call me ‘girl’.”
“Well, my apologies,” said Etienne with a mock bow in her direction. He then chuckled darkly. “But tell me — why were you there at all? Satisfy my curiosity, please.”
Olynka glanced sideways at Alcar, and them pointed a thumb in his direction. “Only because this one begged me.” She grinned again.
“Yep. I actually wanted to be a sorcerer,” said Alcar. He looked around, waving for a second ale, and the bartender approached. “And Olynka here is in my adventuring party, so…”
“Did you really want to, though?” asked Olynka. “When I asked you a few days ago, you didn’t seem too certain what you wanted.”
Alcar frowned peevishly. “Well, I’ve had some time to reflect since then. I’ve been to the Great Swamp. That changes a person.”
In the text, there are a few examples of each of the rules mentioned above. You can see that each character’s speech begins on a new line. Paragraph four has an example of using single quotes inside double ones. There are several speech tags, but you can see that not every line uses one. All the same, it is easy to understand which of the three characters are speaking.
A few other points
If a statement is split by a speech tag or description, you don’t have to start a new sentence. It can all be part of the same sentence, in which case the second part of the statement begins with a small letter. Here’s an example from when Alcar first meets the master sorcerer:
“No,” said Alcar, “but I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance! My name’s Alcar. I don’t think I’ve seen you in the poor quarter before, sir. In fact, we never see wizards around here. They don’t let us through to the merchant quarter, you see, sir.”
The half-orc growled deep in his throat, and looked straight ahead again. “I’m a sorcerer — not a wizard. Sorcery is a scientific discipline.”
One other example that I always find difficult, and that is when reported speech is broken by a bit of action. For example, someone says something, then points, and then continues the same sentence.
In such situations, it slows the pace to format this as:
“I think it could be over there.” Alcar pointed southwards. “But I’m not entirely sure.”
The use of dashes eliminates the need for additional periods/full stops, meaning that the entire speech and action comes as a single piece:
“I think it could be over there — ” Alcar pointed southwards “ — but I’m not entirely sure.”
I think you’ll agree that the second example is better!
Okay, let’s summarise the main rules:
- Reported speech has double quote marks around it.
- Separate each line of dialogue with a line break.
- Use speech tags, but sparingly, and begin these with a lowercase letter, even if they follow a ! or ?
- Throw in descriptions of actions and surroundings to make the dialogue richer and easier to follow.
- Vary speech tags by using verbs other than ‘said’, but don’t go overboard!
I hope that helps. And if you’d like to check out more of the story of Alcar the apprentice sorcerer, you can find it here.
Good luck with your writing!
J. F. Danskin is an author of LitRPG and historical fantasy. His series ‘The Tooth and Claw Guild’ is in many ways a classic LitRPG, but with some real twists the further you go. ‘Sparta Online’ is an ebook series based on ancient Greek wars and myths, and it ties into the same overall world. He has also written VR-based fantasy novels and stories set around a game called ‘Shadow Kingdoms’.