Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

Hi everyone, I’ve found myself with an hour free this morning so I thought I’d post a follow up to my previous post ‘5 Tips to Improve Dialogue‘.

1  New Speakers
You should always begin a new paragraph for each new speaker. If the character is doing something while they’re speaking, then keep the actions within that same paragraph.

2  Action and Dialogue
If you have action happening within your dialogue, then make sure that when the dialogue picks up again, the first word of the sentence begins with a lowercase letter. For example, ‘Run!’ he yelled to his friend, his feet pounding on the pavement, ‘just keep running!’

3  Paragraphs and Dialogue
If your character needs to speak for long enough, then you may need to begin a new paragraph within their dialogue. If you do, then place quotation marks at the beginning of every new paragraph…