How to write dialogue within dialogue?

Use single quotation marks for dialogue within dialogue. I think that's what you're asking.

Mary sipped at her drink before continuing, "So, then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 'You wanna go upstairs?' Well, I almost fell right over."

alleycat said:

Use single quotation marks for dialogue within dialogue. I think that's what you're asking.

Click to expand...

Talynn said:

Mary sipped at her drink before continuing, "So, then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 'You wanna go upstairs?' Well, I almost fell right over."

Click to expand...

Yes. On both counts.

goatpiper said:

I'm interested in the proper professional format, not a discussion on the varying ways it could be handled. Thanks ahead of time.​

Click to expand...

If you let us kniw where you come from it would be easier. In Australia it is the other way round. Normal conversation is in single quotes and quoted conversation is in double quotation markes.

Talynn said:

Mary sipped at her drink before continuing, "So, then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 'You wanna go upstairs?' Well, I almost fell right over."

Click to expand...

And, notice they way the quotes go at the end if you end a sentence with a quote:

Mary sipped at her drink before continuing. "So, then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 'You wanna go upstairs?'"

And yes, it's the other way around in the UK and Australia. And other places, I would imagine.

"So then John said, 'Leave me alone', and I haven't seen him since!"

Nope - same over here as far as I'm aware.

rugcat said:

And, notice they way the quotes go at the end if you end a sentence with a quote:

Mary sipped at her drink before continuing. "So, then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, 'You wanna go upstairs?'"

And yes, it's the other way around in the UK and Australia. And other places, I would imagine.

Click to expand...

Other than the quotation mark rules, there's no "proper format." As already said, for internal dialogue, you just use a single quote ('this') if you've been using double quotes ("this") or double quotes if you've been using single quotes. As for the rest, it really just depends on how your character speaks, e.g., for a high school kid, it might go something like this:

"So then I stabbed his banana with the dissection pin," said Charlie. "I didn't know it was his banana! So then Mr. Schulz comes up to me, and he's like 'Why did you stab my banana with the dissection pin? Those things are dirty!' And I said 'Sorry, man, I didn't know it were your banana!' And he like, 'But that was my lunch! Now I can't eat it anymore!' And then he gave me a detention."

kuwisdelu said:

"So then I stabbed his banana with the dissection pin," said Charlie. "I didn't know it was his banana! So then Mr. Schulz comes up to me, and he's like, 'Why did you stab my banana with the dissection pin? Those things are dirty!' And I said, 'Sorry, man, I didn't know it were your banana!' And he like, 'But that was my lunch! Now I can't eat it anymore!' And then he gave me a detention."

Click to expand...

Don't forget the commas!

The single/double quotes for dialogue debate comes up quasi-regularly, UK publishers may print novels using single quotes for dialogue (this annoying change happened sometime in the '70s) but the submission standard (unless an individual publisher's guidelines say otherwise) is still double quotes for dialogue. That's probably because smart quotes aren't standard, yet, and (obviously) because it's kinda tough to tell apostrophes apart from closing single quote marks.

-Derek