Dialogue 101: Your Go-To Guide for Formatting Dialogue

Some people love writing dialogue, and others find it tricky. What’s the best way to show who’s talking? Where does the punctuation go? Luckily, today, author Annelise Driscoll has some tips for formatting your dialogue:

It’s no secret that formatting dialogue can be a tricky business. From tags to trail-offs to interruptions, there are so many things to consider when you start throwing quotation marks into your stories. But fear not! Formatting your dialogue is easier than it seems. 

First of all, it’s important to note that there’s more than one to write compelling dialogue—and whether you use tags, avoid tags, or constantly interrupt your speaker with actions or other characters, each choice you make has a simple formatting solution.

Dialogue Tags

When it comes to dialogue with tags, there’s only one hard-and-fast rule: Don’t use a period until the end of the sentence. And until you reach the end of the sentence, only capitalize the beginning of the dialogue and proper nouns. It’s also important to note that when it comes to dialogue, question marks and exclamation points often function as commas, so don’t let it throw you off! Only the period denotes the true end of the sentence.

Statements

Correct: “Look at that,” the cat said. 

Incorrect: “Look at that.” The cat said. 

Incorrect: “Look at that,” The cat said.  

Questions and Exclamations

Correct: “Look at that?” the cat asked.

Correct: “Look at that!” the cat cried.

Incorrect: “Look at that?” The cat asked.

Incorrect: “Look at that!” The cat cried.

Additionally, dialogue tags can be used at the beginning of a sentence … 

Correct: The cat said, “Look at that.” 

Incorrect: The cat said, “look at that.”  

… or in the middle of a sentence. 

Correct: “Look,” the cat said, “at that.”

Incorrect: “Look,” the cat said, “At that.” 

Incorrect: “Look,” The cat said, “at that.” 

Incorrect: “Look.” The cat said. “At that.” 

No Dialogue Tags

Of course, you might decide you’re sick of seeing “said” and that you would rather avoid tags altogether. If that’s the case, remember the period rule! The period goes at the end of the sentence, which in this case, is the end of the dialogue. 

Correct: “Look at that.” The cat peered up into the sky.

Incorrect: “Look at that.” the cat peered up into the sky. 

Incorrect: “Look at that,” the cat peered up into the sky.

Incorrect: “Look at that,” The cat peered up into the sky. 

Additionally, you may need to find alternative ways to make sure that the speaker is clear. Mostly, you can accomplish this by appropriately separating your paragraphs. In other words, only describe the speaker in the paragraph that contains their dialogue. And always start a new paragraph when a new character begins speaking. 

Correct: 

“Look at that.” The cat peered up into the sky. 

“At what?” The dog followed the cat’s gaze but saw nothing.

Incorrect: 

“Look at that.” The cat peered up into the sky. “At what?” 

The dog followed the cat’s gaze but saw nothing.

Finally, depending on the tone or length of a character’s dialogue, you may find that you want to split it up, and doing that without using tags requires a bit of finesse … and em dashes. 

Correct: “I don’t see”—the dog squinted at the clouds—“anything.”

Incorrect: “I don’t see” the dog squinted at the clouds, “anything.”  

Incorrect: “I don’t see.” The dog squinted at the clouds. “Anything.” 

Incorrect: “I don’t see”—the dog squinted at the clouds—“Anything.”

And speaking of em dashes, we have a bonus round!

Interrupted Dialogue and “Trail-Offs”

Sometimes, characters interrupt one another—or are interrupted by something—and when these sudden interruptions happen, we use em dashes. 

Correct:

“What do you mean?” the cat demanded. “It’s right there.” 

The dog growled, “I’m looking right where you—” 

“Not there.” The cat batted him with a paw. “There!” 

Incorrect: 

“What do you mean?” the cat demanded. “It’s right there.” 

The dog growled, “I’m looking right where you.” 

“Not there.” The cat batted him with a paw. “There!”   

Alternatively, if a character is not suddenly interrupted, but their speech trails off in awe or a lost train of thought, you’ll want to use an ellipsis. The standard format for an ellipsis varies for different publishers, but a space before each dot is generally a good rule of thumb.

Correct: 

“I looked where you said, and I just don’t …” 

The dog’s eyes widened as the object of interest finally soared into view: a flying pig. 

Incorrect: 

“I looked where you said, and I just don’t-”

The dog’s eyes widened as the object of interest finally soared into view: a flying pig. 

Incorrect: 

“I looked where you said, and I just don’t,” the dog’s eyes widened as the object of interest finally soared into view: a flying pig. 

In the end, formatting dialogue—while sometimes tricky—is often easier than it seems. And if one method doesn’t feel quite right, there are endless ways to tweak and tune your characters’ voices. For further discussions on dialogue, feel free to check out my 5 Easy Tricks for Writing Believable Dialogue.  

Author of the Color Code series, Annelise Driscoll is a graduate of Hamilton College with a degree in Creative Writing and French. She received her M.A.T. in English Education from the State University of New York at Cortland and currently resides in the Finger Lakes Region of New York with her husband. You can find her on Instagram: @annelisedriscollauthor and check out her website. You can also find her books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie Bookstores, as well as some signed copies!

Top photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash