How to Write Dialogue: Nailing Punctution

I don't know about you, but writing what characters are saying, aka dialogue, is easy.

You know what's hard?

Remembering all the puncuation rules for your dialogue to be grammatically correct.

The goal of this post is to help you understand exactly how to format your basic spoken dialogue within your creative writing projects.

I'm sure you already know about quotations marks and starting a new paragraph when someone speaks. Considering that you're reading a punctuation article, I'm betting you need to know where all those darn commas, and other marks, are supposed to go.

A few basic rules.

1. If someone new starts speaking, start a new paragraph. (I know you knew this, but I HAD to reiterate it, just in case.)

2. Always use quotation marks for anything that is spoken out loud. Internal thoughts can be a bit different, and I'll have to have a seperate post about those. (Or check out my additional resources on the bottom of the article.)

3. There will always be punctuation to end the spoken words.

   1. A comma if a dialogue tag follows,

   2. A period, for the end of the a sentence if followed by an action tag or if the speaker ends their turn,

   3. And question mark, or exclamation point for the end of a sentence regardless of dialogue or action tags.

Here are some examples.

"I don't know about this," Amanda said.

Notice that even though the sentence is complete when Amanda speaks, the following dialogue tag requires that we use a comma instead of a period, because the actual sentence ending is after the tag.

Amanda said, "I don't know about this."

The dialogue tag comes first, so we use a comma to seperate the tag from the spoken words, and ensure that the end of the sentence punctuation, in this case a period, is written inside the quotation mark.

Notice that a comma almost always seperates the dialogue tag, in this case--Amanda said, from the spoken phrase.

If you choose to use an action tag, one that does not use a verb indicating speach, then you use a period instead.

"I don't know about this." Amanda crossed her arms.

Here, you'll notice that there is a period after her statement and after the action tag because both are complete sentences.

Amanda crossed her arms. "I don't know about this."

The explanation here is the same. The order of the action tag doesn't change that each sentence will end with a period.

Feel free to download this list if you find it helpful.

Dialogue tags = said, asked, whispered, yelled, cried, bellowed, shouted, murmured, muttered, etc.

Action tags = anything the speaking character does either directly before, during, or after speaking.

I personally enjoy using a variety of dialogue tags in my prose, but it's important to use them sparingly and stick with 'said' and action tags more often because it helps the reader flow through the story in a smoother manner. Too many whispers and murmured will stand out to the reader in an unpleasant way.

Action tags are instrumental in my prose, because it helps me set the scene and reveal emotions without breaking up the conversation too much.

You might be tapping your chin and saying, but Sarah, I knew all that already. Perfect!

Buckle up, we're going into more complex territory.

"Wait!" I cried.

Simple enough. With the exclamation point, you don't need a comma, so you continue the sentence.

"Wait, please," I said.

Here we see that we do need the comma before the dialogue tag.

"Wait! I'm here! Can you see me?" I cried.

This one has all kinds of punctuation marks, but everything is within the quotation marks and the sentence ends correctly.

"Wait!" I cried, "I'm here! Can you see me?"

Ahhhh. Some of my favorites. Interrupting the speaker with a tag. Notice, you still need a comma after the tag and before the second part of the dialogue.

I lifted my arms in the air. "Wait! I'm here! Can you see me?"

I lifted my arms into the air is an action tag and a complete sentence, so we use a period before starting the spoken dialogue.

I lifted my arms into the air and cried, "Wait! I'm here! Can you see me?"

This contains an action follow by a dialogue tag, so it is treated as a dialogue tag and uses a comma before the spoken words.

Does all of that make sense?

Feel free to comment or ask any questions you might have regarding dialogue punctuation, and I'll do my best to answer.

Additional Resources

My post above should help with some puncuation questions, but if you want more detail, I've curated some articles that should be helpful. Please note that these are not sources for the post you just read. I wrote the above blog article based on my own experience and education. But since my goal is to help you feel comfortable writing dialogue, I believe having multiple forms of educational content is helpful.

How to Punctuate Dialogue - Rules and Examples

Written by Danielle Mcleod

https://grammarist.com/punctuation/how-to-punctuate-dialogue/

The writer, Danielle Mcleod is incredibly educated and explains the rules in an easy to understand manner.

A Guide to Writing Dialogue, with Examples

Grammarly

Written by Lindsay Kramer

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/writing-techniques/writing-dialogue/?msockid=31f9e4e0b2416b6a3397f18ab3ec6a3e

This post covers punctuation rules AND best practices AND the difference between US and UK English. Grammarly is one of my preferred resources when I have questions, and I highly reccomend that you check out this one. It's chock-full of helpful information.