: Re: Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph? I've had a few people read pieces of narrative writing I've done, and they seem to take issue with the fact that I sometimes put a piece

@YK4692630

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Now, while others mentioned correctly, one paragraph per speaker, I do have a problem with your other example.

As Jill walked home, the mints jiggled happily in the box in her pocket, as if they were waiting to be eaten.(1) Suddenly, the box snapped opened and one mint fell out. (2)"Dammit," said Jill, bending down to pick it up. (3)As she picked it up, eying it, she noticed that the mint didn't have any dirt on it at all, despite falling onto the dirty, wet sidewalk. (4)"I guess you're spoiled anyway, so I can't bring you to Fran," muttered Jill, so she popped it in her mouth.(5)
Suddenly, she felt changes occurring in her.

This is about paragraph breaks between segments of a story. It's hard to put this rule in words. Essentially, every turn of action should get a new paragraph. What is a turn of action? Now this is a very fuzzy expression and it's mostly up to the author, although in certain cases it's indisputable - like (5), where I put the paragraph break where it absolutely belongs. We are no longer on our standard run-off-the-mill walk. Changes occur. New paragraph is a must.
Now, where to introduce new paragraphs, other than change of speaker in a dialogue?

A rapid, unexpected change of state. Note, a very brief introduction of prior state is still allowed, like I'm not separating the first sentence - one might put paragraph break at (1), this is at writer's discretion, but the single, short sentence would be a poor paragraph on its own. Longer introductions of prior state definitely should be separate paragraphs.
A minor change of state, if the paragraph has been going on long enough. (3) would be permissible but that would make for some very short paragraphs, not really encouraged.
Longer pauses in action. If a character stops to gaze at the sky for a minute, you're fully justified to resume the action once the minute is past starting a new paragraph.
Changes of scene. The moment Jill arrives home, enters and greets Fran, this should be a new paragraph. (the action of unlocking the door and entering may be within the allowance of introductory sentence).
A new thought, a new subject. The rule "one paragraph per speaker" should be violated if a person speaks at length. They arrive at an intermediate conclusion, a point necessary to continue with the following train of thought, then they continue with a new paragraph. (I always had a problem: what to do with quote marks around these...)
Internal dialogue. A character asks self a question. You are fully allowed to answer in a new paragraph, although this is not a necessity. (2)(4)
Introducing severe transitions of state can be paragraphs on their on. Note how the sentence after (5) can be the first of a new paragraph, or (better!) be a very short paragraph on its own, before you start describing the transformation in another one. Such tiny, short paragraphs are like exclamation marks, a sign that something big is about to happen.

Note, none of these are written in stone. But just as breaking the introductory sentence (1) would make it less interesting, not breaking off the turn of events (5) blurs the importance of the event.
Think of paragraph breaks as giving the reader a second of pause to take the content in, absorb the meaning and place it in greater image of the story. It's a bite-sized portion of information. Sentences are for clarity while reading and sections/chapters are for continuity separation, but paragraphs are the most important units of information, absorbable by the reader as a whole.

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