How to Punctuate Dialog Correctly

Dialog is a tricky one to get down. There are plenty of rules, but once you see a few they’ll be no problem. Here we’ll discover a few things regarding dialog, how to punctuate it, and much, much more.

* One of the most common ways you see it are in direct discourse:

“Shut up, punk!”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

“Gut you like a fish.”

“No blade can penetrate my muscle.”

Notice above each new speaker is indicated on a new paragraph.

* With single-word speech like yes, no, okay, maybe, fine, how, where, etc. when used singly, are not enclosed in quotation marks except when used in direct discourse. For example:

Wayne always answered yes because he’s not strong enough to stand up for himself.

Of course in direct discourse, the single word would indeed be in quotation marks.

“Fine,” said Tommy.

“Okay,” James responded.

* Stuttering, or faltering speech isn’t as common, but it’s there. Ellipses can be used to suggest the faltered or stuttered speech.

“Golly gee…I…I…like you…a bunch.”

“Flarfs…oh crap!…they’re here.”

The three period ellipses are used here. For interrupted speech, see below:

Interrupted speech is sometimes used in dialog. See below:

“No, Haldo, the Fl-”

“The plane, the plane is coming this way!” Haldo interrupted.

“Well, I don’t know,” I began. I thought I might-”

“Might what?” she demanded.

* Internal thought. These happen quite a bit, too. Any internal thought that the character uses is put in italics. Internal thoughts are not to be confused with monologue.

I’m going to try to drink my soup with a knife, I thought. That was a stupid idea.

They’re gonna rob the bank, he thought as he watched the crooks don on masks of the presidents.

Dialog Tags

* A comma, rather than a colon or semicolon is used after said, replied, asked, quipped, or similar verbs.

Ryan said, “Wayne, you’re awesome!”

“It’s a gift from the heavens,” Wayne replied.

Notice in the second paragraph, there is a comma inside the quotation, followed by the tag, “Wayne replied.” Such is the correct way to do it if what’s in the quote isn’t doesn’t end the sentence. Punctuation always goes inside the quotations. Always. Let’s take it a little further.

“It’s a gift from the heavens,” Wayne replied. “In fact I didn’t even bat an eye when I discovered how awesome I was.”

Notice here that the first sentence ends after “Wayne replied.” It then picks up again and ends with a period, then quotation. But the most important thing to notice is that the dialog after the tag isn’t preceded by a comma.

* Dropping the tag. If there are two or more people talking, then you should introduce them early, often with a tag, but if they’re the only two dialoging, you can drop the tags after their introductions.

“Sup, Champ? That game was awesome and that score keeper was hot!” Keira said.

“Yeah, I know. The Red team actually had it won, though,” Britanny said.

“Shut up!”

“I’m only speaking the truth.”

“You only speak lies. Liars go to places that burn.”

* Action sequences. If a character is in an action sequence, then their dialog will go with that paragraph. For instance:

The rudder came to a full stop, but the giant squid still grasped on to the lonely ship. Land was over 900 miles away and not a soul that could hear them. The captain was stunned at what was happening. It suddenly came to the captain, under a full moon. “Blast the beast from whence it came.”

“Aye, aye, Captain Jack.”

Notice two things here. One, the sequence of the captain being stunned and the captain opening up the dialog with, “Blast the beast from whence it came.” The second thing is this: I didn’t have to introduce the captain’s dialog with a tag because it was already known it was him speaking.

Fin!