Paragraph breaks in dialogue and action

satyesu

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Where would one place paragraph breaks in the following and why? Should it go

“My son plays the saxophone,” she says. I nod, too tired to feign interest.
“Tanya, I’m going to go close my eyes. Will you-”

Or


“My son plays the saxophone,” she says.
I nod, too tired to feign interest. “Tanya, I’m going to go close my eyes. Will you-”

?
 

Girlsgottawrite

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Yep. Number 2. You want to match the action with the person speaking.
 

cornflake

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Where would one place paragraph breaks in the following and why? Should it go

“My son plays the saxophone,” she says. I nod, too tired to feign interest.
“Tanya, I’m going to go close my eyes. Will you-”

Or


“My son plays the saxophone,” she says.
I nod, too tired to feign interest. “Tanya, I’m going to go close my eyes. Will you-”

?

The latter.
 

Maryn

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It's probably important to understand why everybody was unanimous in noting which paragraph break is preferred. Otherwise similar questions will come up again and again.

In any paragraph where one character speaks, no other character’s dialogue, actions, reaction can appear. If you want any of that to come next, you start a new paragraph.

But you can and probably should combine one character's dialogue and actions in a single paragraph.

Maryn, knowing you get it