The Write Stuff

by Ashley Lister

Talk the Talk

As a teacher I get asked many questions.  “What was Shakespeare’s last name?” remains one of my favourites.  Only last night, during one of the creative writing lessons I was teaching, a student asked me if I’m a full time writer or if I have another job.

“I do some teaching,” I said carefully, wondering if this was a trick question.

He seemed impressed.  “What do you teach?”

“Creative writing,” I admitted warily. 

“Oh! Yes!” He exclaimed.  “That’s what you’re doing now, isn’t it?”

One of the questions people seldom ask is: How do I format dialogue?  Admittedly, I know that teaching isn’t about waiting for learners to ask a question and then answering it.  That’s not a good way of organising a lesson’s content.  However, having studied pages and pages of student work, I’m aware that the issue of formatting dialogue is something that is seldom addressed in writing instruction.  Learning the rules of formatting is supposed to occur through a process of osmosis.

Part of the problem here is caused because the rules change from country to country, publication to publication and editor to editor.  Obviously, in these circumstances, it’s wise to consider a particular publisher’s house style and then modify the details of the manuscript accordingly.

There are no universal rules about formatting dialogue on the page.  This is to be expected.  In writing dialogue we’re trying to provide a written transcription of verbalised speech, which is as difficult as trying to describe the taste of a colour.  But there are some conventions that can make dialogue easier to follow.  The exchanges below should illustrate:

“How do I format dialogue?” he asked.

“Dialogue?”

He nodded.

She sighed and put down her pen.  “Double speech marks for UK publications.  Single speech marks for US publications.  Sometimes it differs.  Check house styles for definitive rules. “

The basic rules are all covered above.  Reported speech is preceded by speech marks (either single or double).  Initial letter capitalisation within speech marks is subject to the usual case rules of grammar.   The speech tag after the reported speech (he asked) is not capitalised, even though it follows a question mark.  This is because the whole of the first line is a single sentence.

The second line shows that speech tags are not always necessary.  Conversation between two people is a dyadic medium.  If a named character asks a question, the reader doesn’t need to be told that the person answering the question is the other person in the conversation: most readers are bright enough to work that out for themselves.

“Is that all the rules for formatting speech?” he asked.

“Always use a capital letter for new speech,” she added, “except when the speech is interrupted in the middle of a sentence.”

 “OK.”

“Make sure there’s always a new paragraph for every new speaker.”

He nodded.

“And pay attention to what happens at the end of the reported speech.”

“At the end of reported speech?”

“If your speaker is asking a question, make sure the speech ends with a question mark.  Understand?”

He nodded.

“If your speaker is making a statement, or if you’re going to follow the speech with the words ‘she said,’ make sure you put a comma at the end of the dialogue,” she said.  “Otherwise make sure you place a period after the last word spoken but before the closing speech mark.”

Ashley Lister
April 2010

If you have comments or questions about this column, please send them to Ashley Lister

Find more of Ashley's Write Stuff in ERWA 2010 Archive.

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"The Write Stuff" © 2010 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Email:  Ashley Lister
Website:  www.ashleylister.co.uk

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