: Re: What is the correct formatting for actions taken before dialogue? What would be the correct way to format the following exchange in narrative prose? Is it: Alice sits on the bench, silent. Eventually,

There is the old adage that you should never use anything other than (she/he) said

But I think it is more a case of being consistent, by having a consistent way of marking speech you produce a couple of benefits to the reader.

Firstly, they can unconsciously ignore the 'who said' part, unless they need to clarify who said. If you know it is there, your brain skips over it and you can simply take in the flow of conversation. This makes for a much less jagged reading experience.

Secondly, if your character suddenly 'shouts' a line, it will add a huge amount of emphasis amongst a sea of 'said' dialogue. Considerably more than if you have liberally scattered the contents of thesaurus's said page amongst your dialogue.

So to actually answer the question! choose a simple style that the reader can learn and then ignore. I don't think it matters greatly what it is, just be consistent.

Load Full (0)

: Does this read as archaic? I am trying to hone an archaic writing style. Does what I have written here have itself entrenched in some bygone era of time or other and in which era would this

@Hamaas631

Load Full 2 Comments

: Issue in citing legal cases, APA I'm specifically trying to cite two documents under United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Namely, this and this. The second is the actual

@Hamaas631

Load Full 1 Comments

: Manuscript new versions and First Publishing Rights? If you self-publish a version of a book, and then edit it, can you still traditionally publish it offering First Publishing Rights? Essentially

@Hamaas631

Load Full 2 Comments

: How to format multiple inner voices, differentiating the text from dialogue? and omnipresent inner voice For the occasional use of inner voice, Italics are usually recommended. However I have

: Re: What is the correct formatting for actions taken before dialogue? What would be the correct way to format the following exchange in narrative prose? Is it: Alice sits on the bench, silent. Eventually,

More posts by @Hamaas631

: Does this read as archaic? I am trying to hone an archaic writing style. Does what I have written here have itself entrenched in some bygone era of time or other and in which era would this

: Issue in citing legal cases, APA I'm specifically trying to cite two documents under United States v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Namely, this and this. The second is the actual

: Manuscript new versions and First Publishing Rights? If you self-publish a version of a book, and then edit it, can you still traditionally publish it offering First Publishing Rights? Essentially

: How to format multiple inner voices, differentiating the text from dialogue? and omnipresent inner voice For the occasional use of inner voice, Italics are usually recommended. However I have

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top