i have not lost a story as such, but story writers seem to be losing the ability to announce a change of speaker when writing dialogue.very confusing at times.
it is simple to rectify. just start a new paragraph each
time the dialogue speaker changes.
hope this helps all the authors out there that may not have known about this little rule.
all the best to all you writers,you are very much appreciated.
libby
just start a new paragraph each
time the dialogue speaker changes.
It works only when two people are speaking. And if the conversation is long, it's best to remind the reader from time to time who's speaking.
that's true,but you are still supposed to change paragraphs,each time the speaker changes. no matter how many speakers there are,as it helps the reader to understand the ebb & flow of conversation.
like hearing different voices!
all the best
libby
that's true,but you are still supposed to change paragraphs,each time the speaker changes. no matter how many speakers
I wasn't saying otherwise. But if there are more than two people speaking it takes more than simply starting a new paragraph.
In a recent chapter of a highly-rated ongoing serial, three characters were involved in a dialogue passage. Between the author and the editor, somehow the passage ended up with insufficient dialogue tags so it was impossible to tell who was speaking.
Editors should take the trouble to ask themselves if they can tell who is speaking at all times.
AJ
i have not lost a story as such, but story writers seem to be losing the ability to announce a change of speaker when writing dialogue.very confusing at times.
To reduce confusion it helps to post in the correct place...
I can agree with this comment. There has been occasions I have had to read the section of the story a few times to understand who is saying what. I also think that there is a difference in punctuation for American English compared to British English and this does not help.
Sorry, thought the rule was new paragraph when the topic changes, not the speaker in a conversation on a single topic.
It seems that putting "statement by person,"said Bob. "statement by person," replied Emily. Is just too difficult for some authors. Add more characters to the exchange and it becomes more critical to assign names to the statements. And they wonder why their story gets low marks.
I just started reading a story in which the author separates multiple lines of text by blank lines, followed by more of the same, in a conversation with several characters, never attributing any statements to any character. It is hopelessly confusing, so I just grit my teeth and keep going.
It's like the author is picturing a TV scene as he writes and expects the readers to be doing the same.
It seems that putting "statement by person,"said Bob. "statement by person," replied Emily. Is just too difficult for some authors.
Not difficult to do that. It's difficult not to do it well.
When you read dialogue, you want to hear the dialogue, not read the attribution. Especially when it's a few words back and forth.
