: Re: Should I ever break up a long line of dialogue in different paragraphs? I often second-guess myself in one particular scenario when writing dialogue. Convention says I should break different characters'

The first thing you should remember is that it is the strength of your writing that determines it. There's a saying: "First thought, best thought." What that means is to write the way you saw it in your mind the first time---word for word. Do not edit, do not pause and rethink it, especially for a rule about 'readability' or dialogue exchange. Get it out. You could have one character speak for pages and pages if it feels right (Sherlock Holmes was a great example; another is "Youth" by Joseph Conrad, or if you're really dedicated, Heart of Darkness), and never worry about who will know who is speaking. Intelligent readers come to intelligent writers, and will thank you for it.

That being said, when you go back to rewrite it--because writing is rewriting--you will see and understand more clearly what is or isn't right with it, but you cannot see this unless you had previously wrote what you thought, untrammeled. You have to fail forward. It's insane, I know, but just let it all out, and by making mistakes you will uncover truth. Writing is like an old faucet: it's rusted, it's hard to turn on, it creaks and seems like it's going to break. When you do finally get it on, what comes out? Orange gunk. Rust water.

But let it flow. Soon it will be crystal clear.

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: Re: Should I ever break up a long line of dialogue in different paragraphs? I often second-guess myself in one particular scenario when writing dialogue. Convention says I should break different characters'

More posts by @Sent2472441

: Is it a good idea to write a non fictional incident from a first person perspective I want to write about a historical incident. So, to make it more appealing to the reader, I want to write

: How to write a character that isn't who they claim? I am currently writing a character that isn't who they claim to be. This character's true identity and affiliation will become known in the

: Is writing in fragments bad practice? Occasionally, it feels easier to write individual scenes of a prose and later connect them somehow. Does this method have any significant benefit and/or throwback

: Where to put statistical signifance test results Iâ€™m writing on my master thesis/dissertation and performed Chi-square tests to my check for statistical significance. I'll present the results of

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