"Charleston" or Charleston

Belle_91 · Jan 1, 2018

My book takes place in the 1920s, so I have references to the Charleston dance as well as the song.

Is the dance also in quotation marks like the song is?

Here are some examples from my MS:

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the middle of the club as the band played the “Charleston.”

He laughed with her as they danced the Charleston in the speakeasies.

Fallen · Jan 1, 2018

Belle_91 said:
He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the middle of the club as the band played "The Charleston.”

He laughed with her as they danced the Charleston in the speakeasies.

I'd run with this, mostly because it's the name of a dance style in the 2nd example, then a reference to the 1923 Broadway music piece called "The Charleston" by J P Johnson in the 1st. Always check if 'the' needs a capital and to be in the quote of the song too.

Alessandra Kelley · Jan 1, 2018

Oh great, now I have the "Charlseston" running through my head, intro and all.

(The consequences of a life of musical dissipation, I guess.)

Fallen said:
I'd run with this, mostly because it's the name of a dance style in the 2nd example, then a reference to the 1923 Broadway music piece called "The Charleston" by J P Johnson in the 1st. Always check if 'the' needs a capital and to be in the quote of the song too.

These suggestions look good to my not-a-professional-writer's eye.

"Charleston" or Charleston

Belle_91

With her nose stuck in a book

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian