This is a LONG CHAPTER !! and it is boring I agree.. BUT ITS THE BASICS. You can skip it ya know
Okay so let's go to the basics- Dialogue.
Now I found a fantastic blog that explained how to frame a dialogue perfectly. There is a encounter between the writer and an old man who teaches the author how to frame dialogue. And I've written the whole thing in this chapter
But if you're lazy I got you fam! I summarised the gist into points
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1. Each speech gets its own indented paragraph.
2. Quotations end with a tag that tell the reader who the speaker is, but this isn't done when it's obvious who the speaker is.
3. The use of a period or a comma is done depending on the flow of thought of the speaker. If the speaker was done talking then period.
4.Narrators shouldn't convey emotion by describing their own facial expressions A narrator cannot see how their cheeks suddenly turned red...but they can feel the warmth rush to their face instead. Thus minute details that can only be seen by an observer shouldn't be mentioned by the narrator while describing themselves.
5. Breaks in sentences can indicate doubt on the side of the speaker while full sentences show more confidence. Thus instead of always describing how the speaker is, you can show it through dialogue.
6 . Commas indicate the slightest pause, a period indicates a full stop between complete thoughts, and three dots suggests the speaker is trailing off before finishing a thought. And if you wanted to indicate an interruption–
7. A careful placement of details can indicate a lull in action and give the feeling of a pause.
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I know this seems boring. But trust me these are the basics and bad punctuation is the first marker of an amateur. Besides, I'm learning with you as well aren't I?
Given below is a story that will make all the above points much clearer. You can skip if you wish to ——————————————-
"What brings you to my hermitage on such a stormy night?" asks the old man.
"I want to learn how to write dialogue. I... I'm a writer."
"Are you?" he says. His eyes take me in for a moment. Then he opens the door.
"I want to know where the punctuation goes," I say, wringing out my cloak in the hall.
"Do you need me for that?" he asks, settling himself by a crackling fire. "What does your favorite author do?"
I fish Divergent out of my pack. There's some dialogue on page 2.
