Five Tips on Punctuation for Dialogue

Better Writing Skills for Character Conversations

Sep 28, 2009

To improve their chances of getting a book published, writers need to write free-flowing, convincing dialogue - and to achieve this, the correct punctuation is vital.

Incorrect (or poorly chosen) punctuation for dialogue not only leaves the reader confused, but leaves a prospective editor seriously unimpressed. Some writers understand the basics, and punctuate their dialogue correctly –but fail to choose the best layout for pauses, pacing and emphasis. In other words, the rhythm doesn't work – and rhythm is all important.

The following five tips on punctuation will help writers to produce polished, professional scenes of dialogue.

1. Basic Punctuation of Dialogue

The following punctuation marks all go inside the quotation marks: commas, full stops, ellipses, dashes, exclamation points and quotation marks. (For example: "All right," he said, "come with me.")

All spoken words are put inside quotation marks, whereas words that are not actually spoken by the characters – such as 'he said' – do not. (See example above).

2. Punctuate Speech and Thoughts Differently

Use quotation marks for speech, but not for thoughts. (For example: use quotation marks for "Please don't come any closer," she said, but not for the following; Please don't come any closer, she thought.)

3. Don't Overuse Exclamation Points

Some writers sprinkle their work so liberally with exclamation points that the whole story develops a somewhat manic feel. If a character actually does exclaim something, then an exclamation point is appropriate. However, this doesn't work so well in narrative. For example:

Better: "Look at that!" She nudged him sharply. (This is better because the words and punctuation in "Look at that!" actually show that she is exclaiming it, so the speech tag is unnecessary. The sentence about the nudge also helps the reader to picture the scene.

Poor style: Emily looked around in amazement! The whole building had been trashed! Paint was everywhere -- including the walls! "Look at that!" she exclaimed.

4. Use Contractions in Dialogue for More Natural Speech

Most of us use contractions in everyday conversation. It feels natural to do so, and it will therefor appear more natural for your characters to use contractions in dialogue. (For example: "I'll go" sounds more natural than "I will go", and "I can't" is more common usage than "I cannot". However, if a character has learned English as a second language, he or she is more likely to use whole words. Whole words are also more appropriate for emphasis ("I will not!") or when attributed to a very formal character.

5. Start a New Paragraph for Each Speaker

Readers are far more likely to get confused about who is speaking when writers include the speech of two different characters in the same paragraph. For example:

"I'm not going with you," said Alex. Tom looked at him with some sympathy, knowing he was tired. "Neither of us is really ready for this," he said.

In the above example, the reader can't be sure whether it was Alex or Tom talking about "not being ready for this". If the dialogue is split into two paragraphs, all becomes clear:

Tom looked at him with some sympathy, knowing he was tired. "Neither of us is really ready for this," he said.

Any writer who finds punctuation of dialogue to be difficult should take some time to study published books. note carefully how different paragraph structure can change emphasis and make attribution clear. Not, too, how different placement of speech tags can suggest pauses and improve the pacing.

The copyright of the article Five Tips on Punctuation for Dialogue in Writing Techniques is owned by Marg McAlister. Permission to republish Five Tips on Punctuation for Dialogue in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.