Your story is created through dialogue; which is with your characters conversating with others. Dialogue is a way to get to the emotional connection between two people and communicating it clearly; by using quotes between the two separate conversations. Quotation marks go around anything someone actually says; if it was just all narrative than the paragraphs would be difficult to read and very boring. Dialogue brings the story to life. It helps to actually form the pictures in your mind as you are reading, or as you are being read too.

Below is a demonstration of an example of punctuated dialogue.

Example: Part 1.) Lisa said, “John I love you so much.” But, John refused to listen to her; he hung up the phone anyways.

Information: What John actually said was put in quotation marks. The speaker goes on to give added information through visualizing a picture for the reader by what he says. The picture you see as you are reading is what makes the dialogue so good. Example: He was talking to Lisa on the phone. Your punctuation is just as important as all the rest of the story being told. Make a new paragraph each time you switch speakers.

The narrator is telling us what went on between these two people. Who said what? When we break up the story with dialogue then the communication of the conversation starts flowing. Now, with the narrator telling “someone” about the couple, the person listening to this story (the other person) is going to ask a question. When this happens then a new paragraph starts.

Example: Part 2.) “Michael, why did John hang up on Lisa?” Alan asked as they left John’s house.

Information: Alan is asking a question to Michael. The question is in quotation marks. He says Michael’s name and then pauses. Using a comma to set off parenthetical expressions and nominatives of direct address; if asking a question then use a question mark within the quotations. At the end of the sentence is a period, which is used to express a complete thought.

Example: Part 3.) Michael paused before looking at Alan and he said, “Because John saw Lisa on a date with another man.”

Information: The exact words are in quotation marks. A period is at the end of the sentence. Use a period at the end of a complete sentence that is a statement.

Example: Part 4.) Michael continued, “John thought Lisa was seeing some other guy when he saw her with another man at a restaurant, but it was her brother’s birthday; she was treating him to dinner. Lisa doesn’t know John saw her. She just thinks he doesn’t like her anymore.” Alan’s mouth dropped open.

Example: Part 5.) “You mean you haven’t told either one of them what you know?” “How could you do that?” Alan said disgusted.

Information: In part 4 and 5 we have more detail and information into the plot of the complex dialogue. Separate dialogue from tag lines (he said, she said) with a comma as is shown in the punctuation of dialogue in all parts of the given examples. In part 4, a semicolon is used separating birthday from she.

Use a semicolon in place of a period to separate two sentences where the conjunction has been left out. Use a coordinating conjunction: And, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet to join individual words, phrases, and independent clauses. Furthermore, conjunctions could also work in this sentence with the word “but” in its place, or the word “for” as prepositions. Use periods to show where we stop a sentence and then began again with a capitalization.

Information: In Part 5, the example shows that Alan asked a question. His question is in quotation marks and at the end of the question a question mark is used inside of the quotation mark. Use a question mark when asking a question as in Part 5. The next sentence is in quotation marks because Alan continues talking without waiting for John to reply. Alan makes a statement that shows his interest by continuing to question. The last sentence shows a basic short sentence with a period to express the way Alan felt.

Tips

1. Write in scenes or structured parts and be sure each part makes a point.
2. Narration is used as scenes, or parts with no point. Make sure you add dialogue to keep the story interesting.
3. Break up dialogue with action; make your story interesting to read by adding good scenes.
4. Watch your grammar, don’t forget to capitalize and place periods and commas inside quotation marks. Basic grammar is as much apart of the structure of creating good reading material.
5. Use single quotation marks when you write a quote within a quote
6. Indicate the speech tags as part of the whole sentences in dialogue.
7. Don’t try to provide too much information at once through dialogue.
8. Make your dialogue sound natural.

Now it’s time to begin your dialogue with enthusiasm for creating it; by acquiring the basic fundamentals of dialogue you can begin writing. Create creative and interesting stories as you let it flow out naturally from your thoughts and ideas.