: Re: How to format dialogue with an embedded long monologue I use the following formats for dialogues: dialogue dialogue - describing action (if any) dialogue - describing action (if any) - more

@Carla500

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You can break up long stretches of dialogue with:

Stage business (describing the person moving around, handling things,
getting up and walking, sighing, laughing, eating, etc.)
Reaction shots from the other person
Bits of narrative describing what someone is thinking, either the speaker watching the listener or the listener reacting to the speaker

It's actually okay to have "something unnecessary." That's the stage business. It also helps make the scene easier to visualize.

As an exercise, watch a (scripted!) TV show or a movie. Watch for scenes with two people talking. Turn off the sound or turn it low and really watch. It's not just two people sitting stiffly and yammering at one another like the Sunday morning talk shows. There's movement. There are reactions. People get up and pace. They slouch. They fiddle with the china. These are the things you can intersperse in long paragraphs of text so they aren't boring walls of blah blah blah.

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