Consecutive Dialogue Paragraphs Spoken by the Same Character

It's certainly how I do it, based on everything I've ever read. It's not something I've ever learnt formally though so maybe someone else can confirm.

Quote at the beginning of paragraph one, no endquote, quote at the beginning of paragraph 2, endquote.

I think carefully before using. It can be awkward and very one-sided dialogue is slow reading.

That's exactly the right way, and it confuses me every time I read it. I know it's necessary sometimes, but as a reader, I like it to be as seldom as possible.

I've never read a novel that didn't have more than one paragraph spoken by characters at some point. This does not make it anything like a one sided conversation. It simply makes it real, and grammatical.

If you want completely fake dialogue, never allow a character to say more than a single paragraph at a time.

It's correct.

Forgive me, but if you've often seen it that way why are you wondering if it's wrong?

papaholmz said:

How are consecutive dialogue paragraphs handled when they are spoken by the same character?

I have often seen it done by putting quotation marks at the beginning of the paragraph but not at the end until you reach the last paragraph being spoken by that character. Is this the proper way of doing it?

-papaholmz

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here's what I've seen

I HATE unbalanced quotes. Which is what you get if you follow the rules for multiple spoken paragraphs. I have some college lectures in my book, and so of courses needed multiple spoken paragraphs.

So, I searched all my books. Yes, one character might speak in multiple paragraphs, but it is always broken by a short tag of some type. He looked up, she bent over, he stared at the audience, the clock ticked, there was silence. Whatever, something is put between paragraphs. Because paragraph after paragraph is a monologue, which is horribly dull, no matter how realistic.

Actually, it isn't that realistic. Because if you're a student stuck in a college class, how long could you listen to a professor drone on w/o doing something else - like look at your watch? A good professor doesn't drone, they DO something to break up the lecture. And as a good author, you should do the same.

In which case you can quote normally, because that breaks up the paragraphs.

I'm sure there in an exception to my observation. I've just never found it.

So, my 0.02 is always put something between any two spoken paragraphs, be it a tag, another character interrupting, anything. Then you'll write better and you don't have to follow what I think is a stupid rule.

tko said:

I'm sure there in an exception to my observation. I've just never found it.

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Plenty.

tko said:

So, my 0.02 is always put something between any two spoken paragraphs, be it a tag, another character interrupting, anything. Then you'll write better

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What makes your way 'better'?

tko said:

and you don't have to follow what I think is a stupid rule.

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It's not a rule, it's a convention. There's nothing particularly clever or stupid about it, it's just the way it's usually done. Understanding how things are usually done is a Good Thing.