Punctuating Dialogue

Rule 1: Start a new paragraph when each new character speaks. It was lonely for a day or so until one morning some man, more recently arrived than I, stopped me on the road. “How do you get to West Egg village?” he asked helplessly. -From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Rule 2: Use a dialogue tag/speaker tag (whispered Mrs Rule 2: Use a dialogue tag/speaker tag (whispered Mrs. Banasik, screamed Mrs. Schiavo) at least once per conversation for each character to show your readers who is talking. “Ha! That’s good. And don’t call me Chip. Call me the Colonel.” I stifled a laugh. “The Colonel?” “Yeah. The Colonel. And we’ll call you… hmm. Pudge.” “Huh?” “Pudge,” the Colonel said. “Because you’re skinny. It’s called irony, Pudge. Heard of it?” -From Looking for Alaska by John Green

Rule 3: Put everything the character is saying in quotation marks “ “ and make sure you have both sets! Which one of the three is correct? “I love your shirt,” said the girl. “I love your shirt said the girl.” I love your shirt, “said the girl.”

Rule 4: Separate your character’s words from the dialogue tag/speaker tag with a comma. If your character’s sentence ends with a ? or a !, you don’t need a comma! My dad—who picked up an extra one-to-nine-a.m. Friday-night shift and is therefore leaving for work—says, “Are you the new kid?” “Is that the English-language human term you will call me, Earthling?” Boy21 says. “New kid?” “Did he just call me Earthling?” Dad says to me. His expression makes him look uncomfortable, like he’s squinting directly into the sun. I shrug. -From Boy 21 by Matthew Quick

Rule 5: Start what your character is saying with a capital letter. “Where will we go for dinner tonight,” asked Martha? “I don’t know,” Sam replied, “but let’s go to the city and just find a place we both agree on.” “That sounds like a great idea,” replied Martha!

“I want to go to dinner early.” said Martha. *Make sure you use a comma or a period after your quotation (either is acceptable) “I want to go to dinner early,” said Martha. “I want to go to dinner early.” said Martha.

You can use a question mark or exclamation point, but make sure you also use a period after your speaker tag. “I want to eat dinner early!” exclaimed Martha. “Do you want to eat dinner early?” questioned Martha.

Do not use a comma when your character is interrupted. “The reason I wanted to talk to you, Frank, is to ask you-” “Yeah, well I don’t want to talk to you.”

Do not add an extra period when using ellipses at the end of a statement. “The reason I wanted to talk to you, Frank, is to ask you…”