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How to Write Dialogue - not "great" dialogue, but just simple dialogue.
The recent "100 Words Or Less" Challenge asking members to make up dialogue to go along with an illustration of a man and a woman in conversation at a restaurant seemed to imply that a lot of people are unfamiliar with the rules that govern writing dialogue. Most of the entries were either "spot on" in their dialogue formatting or had come darn close. Others might want to read the following to help improve their writing technique when it comes to formatting dialogue.
1. Give each character his own paragraph in the dialogue, beginning it with an indent. Any description of either character's actions should be part of the same paragraph as his spoken lines, whether it precedes or follows the speech. Enclose the quoteswith quotation marks. For example:
<indent>"Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!"
<indent>"Very well, Holmes." I pulled on my waistcoat and followed him.
2. Use attribution tags to identify the speaker. An attribution tag is a phrase such as "he said," "Holmes cried," or "I exclaimed." This can be placed at the beginning, end or in the middle of a spoken line. For example:
<indent>"Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!"
<indent>"Very well, Holmes," I mumbled, barely awake. I pulled on my waistcoat and followed him.
3. Replace a period preceding an attribution tag with a comma. Put a comma after any attribution tag that precedes a quote. Omit attribution tags whenever they do not provide extra information. When it is obvious who is speaking, or the tag's verb does not elucidate the speaker's delivery, feel free to present the spoken lines alone. All of the following are legitimate ways of constructing a dialogue paragraph:
<indent>He cried, "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot."
<indent>"Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game is afoot."
<indent>"Come, Watson, come! The game," he cried, "is afoot."
<indent>"Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot," he cried.
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