Quotations on dialog - single quotes preferred over double??

Sunshine13 · May 27, 2008

OK, I promise this will be my last question for at least a week.

I was recently told most agents prefer dialog like: 'Hello.' versus "Hello."

If this is true, DRAT, is there any simple way of going through in Word to change all the quotations other than doing it one at a time?

-wants to bang head on desk-

dpaterso · May 27, 2008

The operative argument here is: "If this is true"

I don't think it is.

You can do a search/replace all in Word, but until you receive such instructions directly from an agent or publisher (which is highly unlikely, IMHO), I wouldn't give this a second thought.

-Derek

alleycat · May 27, 2008

I think you've gotten some bad advice. Keep it as "Hello."

Use single quotation marks only for a quote within a quote.

melaniehoo · May 27, 2008

Double quotes, definitely. I use single quotes in emails, but that's just laziness (it's hard to hit that shift key!).

James81 · May 27, 2008

Pick up several novels at your library and thumb through them and see how they do it. You're going to find the double quotes in every single one of them. Don't know who gave you that advice, but it's bad advice.

As an aside, dialogue tags are the bane of my existence. I used to vary up the words (instead of using "said", "asked", etc.). then I came here and found out you usually only use "said" and even then limit it and use actions with your dialogue.

Now I'm doing that and I still don't like it at all. I'm about to pull a James Frey and Cormac McCarthy and just say to hell with dialogue tags altogether.

Darklite · May 27, 2008

I think this may be a British/American difference. A lot of British books use single quotes for dialogue, as did I, until I discovered that the American markets definitely prefer double. So now I just go by the preferred style of the publication I wish to submit my work to.

Toothpaste · May 27, 2008

And yet the odd thing is my UK version of my book uses double quotes as well. Doesn't really matter in your case though, in the USA, it's definitely double quotes, unless you are going for some stylistic thing.

Polenth · May 27, 2008

I'd keep the master copy with double quotes, because it's easy to change doubles to single. It's a five minute job with find/replace.

It's not as easy to change singles to double. The problem comes in the reverse because it'll change all your apostrophes to double quotes. Lots of headache and angst.

dpaterso · May 27, 2008

Whether to print dialogue in double or single quotes is up to the publisher, who will set a manuscript as they see fit. I've yet to see guidelines that specify dialogue must be in single quotes. Feel free to correct me if you know different for sure. No argument sought, just hard info.

-Derek

Mr Flibble · May 27, 2008

I think it's a brit thing too. I actually asked an english agent this, as I was told it was a big deal. The answer is that he couldn't give a stuff, as long as the writing is wonderful.

It doesn't matter at all. I don't even notice. When it comes to publication, UK publishers use single quotes, US publishers double. If you see double quotes in a UK book, it means it has been offset from the US edition, rather than set by a UK typesetter.

Words matter.

So I wouldn't worry. If the publisher wants it changed after it's been accepted, change it then.

James81 · May 27, 2008

Polenth said:
I'd keep the master copy with double quotes, because it's easy to change doubles to single. It's a five minute job with find/replace.

It's not as easy to change singles to double. The problem comes in the reverse because it'll change all your apostrophes to double quotes. Lots of headache and angst.

As an addition to this advice, I would also advise that IF you change doubles to singles with find/replace, then make a COPY of your file and make the change THERE so that you have a copy with double quotes and copy with single quotes so that you don't have to go back and re-edit your file on another submission.

KikiteNeko · May 27, 2008

I have never heard of that.

Sunshine13 · May 27, 2008

The person isn't from the US, so maybe it was legit advice, just not for here.

And cool. I figured the find/replace thing would work but had my doubts because of the long hyphen (there is totally another name for this I'm brain farting on now) I tried replacing to double spaced hyphens ( - - ), but I guess it was the space that created the issues. (A certain publisher likes - - versus the -- , easier to read I guess?) Anyway, going off on a tangent lol.

Thanks for the response guys. I'm relieved.

dpaterso · May 27, 2008

You mean the em-dash? —

MS Word's default AutoCorrect kept changing -- to — which always drove me nuts.

-Derek

Sunshine13 · May 27, 2008

Yes! Oh how I love thee, Derek.

Yeah it does that to me as well, so I've just been doing - -

dpaterso · May 27, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
Yes! Oh how I love thee, Derek.

If I had ten bucks for every time I've heard someone shout that...

Yeah it does that to me as well, so I've just been doing - -

I deleted it from the list (Tools > AutoCorrect > select item from list > Delete button) so I can type the regular -- 2 hyphens. Easy enough to add it back in again if I need it in future. Also easy enough to find the em-dash character using Windows character map (Start > Run > charmap > OK)

-Derek

James81 · May 27, 2008

dpaterso said:
You mean the em-dash? —

MS Word's default AutoCorrect kept changing -- to — which always drove me nuts.

-Derek

I'm not sure what PUBLISHER'S like, but the autocorrect IS the correct form of the dash that's supposed to be used. The double dash was just something that came along in the age of computers and typewriters.

All I know is that in English class we were never told to use double dashes.

alleycat · May 27, 2008

James81 said:
I'm not sure what PUBLISHER'S like, but the autocorrect IS the correct form of the dash that's supposed to be used. The double dash was just something that came along in the age of computers and typewriters.

All I know is that in English class we were never told to use double dashes.

In a manuscript submittal it's generally correct to use two hyphens, rather than the autocorrect one. If it's published they will change it to the "right looking" format. This is similar to using underlining to indicate italic in a manuscript.

If it's just something someone is printing themselves, then the autocorrect dash looks better.

ColoradoGuy · May 27, 2008

Your typesetter will also thank you if you turn off the smart quotes option in MS Word (you can also turn off the -- to em dash autocorrect, too).

IceCreamEmpress · May 27, 2008

The thing MS Word gives you isn't a real em-dash, it's an approximation of same. This is why many publishers prefer the two-hyphen approach. On the other hand, it's not a huge deal if you forget to reset the style.

Sunshine13 · May 27, 2008

I'm a idiot. What are smart quotes exactly?

ColoradoGuy · May 27, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
I'm a idiot. What are smart quotes exactly?

In MS Word, look under the "Autocorrect" item on the Tools menu, then the "Autoformat as you type" tab. It changes straight up and down quotes to curly-cue ones. Experiment and you'll see what I mean.

alleycat · May 27, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
I'm a idiot. What are smart quotes exactly?

The ones that actually incline towards the words quoted (as you see in books and magazine), as opposed to the straight quotes that look like the ones done on a typewriter.

ETA: Colorado may have described them better, curly-cue looking things.

Deleted member 42 · May 27, 2008

James81 said:
I'm not sure what PUBLISHER'S like, but the autocorrect IS the correct form of the dash that's supposed to be used. The double dash was just something that came along in the age of computers and typewriters.

No it's not; it's as old as movable type.

But the em-dash (so named because it it properly the same width of the M in the typeface in used) and the en-dash (usually used in numeric ranges, like dates or page numbers) are largely the provenance of typesetters.

Deleted member 42 · May 27, 2008

IdiotsRUs said:
I think it's a brit thing too. I actually asked an english agent this, as I was told it was a big deal. The answer is that he couldn't give a stuff, as long as the writing is wonderful.

Yep; it's a non-issue. Brits use single quotes where we use double, and double where we Yanks use single.

The typesetter at the publisher can easily deal with this, and you're likely to have some issues.

Quotations on dialog - single quotes preferred over double??

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