Grammatically Speaking

kaku · Jun 15, 2005

Frankly, I’m mystified by paragraph construction that includes dialogue. How does one decide whether a statement belongs in a separate paragraph?

I’ve seen some authors who seem to start every dialogue line as a separate paragraph unless the speech is uninterrupted. I’m sure there are some hard and fast conventions and possible more than one style choice.

I’d appreciate any suggestions you have.
Regards,

Kaku

maestrowork · Jun 15, 2005

I don't think this is a "grammar" question -- it's about style. My rule of thumb is keep the dialogue of the same character in one paragraph with his own actions -- sometimes mixed with another character if the dialogue continues (unless the character is telling a long story, then I make them multiple paragraphs):

"That's nice," she said.

He laughed. "Thank you." He tipped his hat at her and nodded. "Have a nice day."

"Same to you," she said. She smiled at him again before leaving the park.

(bad writing, but it's just an example)

I do not like:

"That's nice," she said. He laughed. "Thank you," he said and tipped his hat at her and nodded. "Have a nice day."

-- it's very confusing to the readers. Who is talking? What is going on? The dialogue tags are "invisible" after a while, so without putting each character in a different paragraph, you risk losing the readers.

Read books and find out how the writers do it. Some writers might break the rules but most still adhere to them.

James D. Macdonald · Jun 15, 2005

Each new speaker gets a new paragraph.

Check pretty-near any published novel for more examples than you can shake a stick at.

If y'all aren't familiar with OWL (Online Writing Lab at Perdue) now's the time to check it out: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Grammatically Speaking

kaku

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle