Longer paragraph quote?

I am writing as me telling the story and I have had quotes of a phrase or three made by the girl.

Now I have a longer paragraph I want said by her. 4 to 6 sentences. Should the whole paragraph be in a quote except for a spot saying she said? She is tell me what is going to happen soon.

bone251 said:

I am writing as me telling the story and I have had quotes of a phrase or three made by the girl.

Now I have a longer paragraph I want said by her. 4 to 6 sentences. Should the whole paragraph be in a quote except for a spot saying she said? She is tell me what is going to happen soon.

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I use quotes only at the start and the end even if that is several paragraphs of one person talking.

An example would help. But in general, something like this:

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't there, I was with Emily. Call her if you don't believe me. And anyway, do you think I'd waste time on Amy? She's vain as fuck and grabs all the attention for herself."

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..is fine.

A more obscure rule involves a single quote that spans multiple paragraph. You leave the close quote off the end of the paragraphs, except for the last. This example's a little too short and contrived to showcase the rule, but:

She smiled. "Sure. I can do that. I mean the rules say no, but I think in this case..." Her smile dimpled. "I'd be happy to accommodate you. Very happy, actually...

"...Oh. And... if we could just not mention this to anyone else?"

She grinned. I liked her, but with those brilliant blue-grey eyes peering up at me, I decided I'd have liked her anyway.

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Without this rule, you need to somehow signal who's speaking in every paragraph.

I want to toss in that a paragraph of six straight sentences of dialogue is a lot without anything to break it up. Example after the first two sentences you stop her speaking and add "She rose from the table and continued speaking."

Then have her speaking again in quotes. It might just be me but I find a long stream of nothing but speaking to be annoying. People do things as they speak. Moving gestures facial expressions their voice raising or becoming emotional etc...use things like that

bone251 said:

I am writing as me telling the story and I have had quotes of a phrase or three made by the girl.

Now I have a longer paragraph I want said by her. 4 to 6 sentences. Should the whole paragraph be in a quote except for a spot saying she said? She is tell me what is going to happen soon.

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It really depends how long the sentences are that make up the paragraph. Four sentences of 8 words each wouldn't make for an excessively long single paragraph. As you say, bracketed by quotes at each end except for the 'she said'. As others have said, successive paragraphs of quotes from the same person are allowed: open each with a quote but end only the final one with a quote. Some readers may not have encountered this before and may raise a query. Usually better, as yet others have said, to break it up a bit by inserting bits like 'She looked thoughtful before she suddenly asked'...

lovecraft68 said:

I want to toss in that a paragraph of six straight sentences of dialogue is a lot without anything to break it up. Example after the first two sentences you stop her speaking and add "She rose from the table and continued speaking."

Then have her speaking again in quotes. It might just be me but I find a long stream of nothing but speaking to be annoying. People do things as they speak. Moving gestures facial expressions their voice raising or becoming emotional etc...use things like that

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This got obvious real fast. Thanks. I am going to have several paragraphs.

Intersperse the telling with simple little questions from you. Break it up that way.

Or with observation from the narrator (you I assume).

In real world terms.... a long paragraph with one person speaking makes me think the person doing the talking is either giving a lecture to someone, scolding them, or is just damn long winded and loves to hear themselves talk. Kant

Kantarii said:

In real world terms.... a long paragraph with one person speaking makes me think the person doing the talking is either giving a lecture to someone, scolding them, or is just damn long winded and loves to hear themselves talk. Kant

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Or a hyper active chatterbox.

lovecraft68 said:

Or a hyper active chatterbox.

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I know a few and if that's the character then it wouldn't be unusual for them to string together WAY more than six sentences. I still wouldn't want to read it. The chatterboxes usually load their conversation with body language and that should probably be used to break up the dialog.

Unfortunately, if the chatterbox is on the phone then you can only suffer the time and imagine the body language.

NotWise said:

I know a few and if that's the character then it wouldn't be unusual for them to string together WAY more than six sentences. I still wouldn't want to read it. The chatterboxes usually load their conversation with body language and that should probably be used to break up the dialog.

Unfortunately, if the chatterbox is on the phone then you can only suffer the time and imagine the body language.

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I(f the chatterbox is on the phone you break it up by having a couple of sentences and a break where the narrator describes himself as holding the phone away from his ear, rolling his eyes, wondering if they'll shut up.

I have this part of something I've been working on, my post apocalyptic story if anyone remembers me asking about stories like that a few months ago.
Anyway I have this part which has a lot of dialog between two characters, and not a lot of action happening.
If anyone reads this, would you add in some actions or expressions? The last paragraph of dialog where hes explaining things, seems to me like he would just be focused on the girl telling her this.
Oh and I love ellipses! My daughter tells me I overuse them, but I can't help it!

I nod my head. “What’s the fucking point...you know what I mean? I lived. I survived. Okay great...now what? What’s the point of me being alive? Staying alive? I really just want to take a bunch of pills one night...go to sleep and never wake up. But Amanda. She still believes something good will come along and save us I guess.”
“Maybe you were meant to stay alive for something...” he starts saying.
“Don’t start preaching about God to me, I don’t believe in any of that. Your so called God has never done shit for me.”
“I never said anything about God. When did I say I believe in God? He’s not mine...never did shit for me either. What I was trying to say...maybe you were meant to be alive for someone else. Amanda maybe? Where would she be if you had died? And what about me? You made me coffee today. I haven’t had coffee in so long. Wonderful hot coffee. And breakfast. So maybe that’s why you’re here still. I don’t know why some people were immune. Especially some of the bad people we ran into in the city. But maybe there is some master plan. I don’t know who made this master plan. Maybe there are aliens. Maybe we’re aliens. Who the fuck knows, but I guess we’re the lucky ones that will maybe get to see. Maybe one day we’ll figure this shit out,” he says.

Ok reading over it how about I add a couple things.

I nod my head. “What’s the fucking point...you know what I mean? I lived. I survived. Ok great...now what? What’s the point of me being alive? Staying alive? I really just want to take a bunch of pills one night...go to sleep and never wake up. But Amanda. She still believes something good will come along and save us I guess.”
“Maybe you were meant to stay alive for something...” he starts saying.
I half way ignore him. I go back to pulling the bucket out of the well.
“Don’t start preaching about God to me, I don’t believe in any of that. Your so called God has never done shit for me.”
“I never said anything about God. When did I say I believe in God?" he asks.
He grabs my arm, I turn to look at him. "He’s not mine...never did shit for me either. What I was trying to say...maybe you were meant to be alive for someone else. Amanda maybe? Where would she be if you had died? And what about me? You made me coffee today. I haven’t had coffee in so long. Wonderful hot coffee. And breakfast. So maybe that’s why you’re here still. I don’t know why some people were immune. Especially some of the bad people we ran into in the city. But maybe there is some master plan. I don’t know who made this master plan. Maybe there are aliens. Maybe we’re aliens. Who the fuck knows, but I guess we’re the lucky ones that will maybe get to see. Maybe one day we’ll figure this shit out,” he says.

Re this ^^^^^

One thing to consider, especially in the context of the current long thread about apps and reading experiences on Lit, is to avoid the wall of text and break your longer paras up.

The example above aggravates the wall of text effect because there are no line breaks between the paras, so it becomes a perfect illustration of the problem.

I saw your little changes, Coffee; I'd probably add more to give even mood and tone - the long speech became a plod for me. Maybe drop his name in from time to time, as a reminder who's speaking (in this example, we don't know the guy's name).

Too much more of this bloke waffling on and I'd be wanting the plague to come for me, too

electricblue66 said:

Re this ^^^^^

One thing to consider, especially in the context of the current long thread about apps and reading experiences on Lit, is to avoid the wall of text and break your longer paras up.

The example above aggravates the wall of text effect because there are no line breaks between the paras, so it becomes a perfect illustration of the problem.

I saw your little changes, Coffee; I'd probably add more to give even mood and tone - the long speech became a plod for me. Maybe drop his name in from time to time, as a reminder who's speaking (in this example, we don't know the guy's name).

Too much more of this bloke waffling on and I'd be wanting the plague to come for me, too

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hehehe Yeah me too!
Okay I will try changing up the whole part. I know it needs something, but at this point in the story they are both feeling pretty low and I don't see either one of them being animated, or doing much action, but I do need to add something.

And THANKS!!
I started this story months ago and everything was going fine, but then I hit a wall and haven't worked on it for a while.
I think it is worth salvaging though.

CoffeeWithMonkeys said:

And THANKS!!
I started this story months ago and everything was going fine, but then I hit a wall and haven't worked on it for a while.
I think it is worth salvaging though.

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Hey, that's OK, just call me the kick starter! Just make sure you don't turn it into The Stand, though.

Still, it can't be so bad - post apocalypse and she's cooking breakfast and making coffee?!

electricblue66 said:

post apocalypse and she's cooking breakfast and making coffee?!

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What is "Breakfast In The Ruins."

Odd science fiction for 40, please.

Back to the OP for a moment... It occurs to me that if authors always broke up long segments of dialog then we would be without some of the greatest passages in literature.

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell
me one thing.

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WAY more than six sentences. Maybe if there's something to be said, then some long quotations should be left as-is.

electricblue66 said:

Hey, that's OK, just call me the kick starter! Just make sure you don't turn it into The Stand, though.

Still, it can't be so bad - post apocalypse and she's cooking breakfast and making coffee?!

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Yeah in a way I feel like I set them up in the most perfect scenario!On a farm so she has access to a well and has chickens so fresh eggs every day, a garden so she has potatoes to fry with the eggs. She is starting to run out of basic stuff like cooking oil,spices, but yes they are spoiled in their circumstances so far.

Oh she has a french press so that's how she made coffee.

As much as I love The Stand, I won't be rewriting that! This part I posted is the only part where they mention God and good and evil.
Maybe they will end up being aliens

Kantarii said:

In real world terms.... a long paragraph with one person speaking makes me think the person doing the talking is either giving a lecture to someone, scolding them, or is just damn long winded and loves to hear themselves talk. Kant

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Or a military commander giving his troops their assignments. Or letting his general staff know what's going on. I had a flight chief who always took twenty minutes at guard mount, even if there were no special orders. That man could talk.

eg. ... excerpt from Warrior One - Scout Ships

"Michelle and Cass both wondered what would happen if we put a couple plasma bolts into the anomaly."

"What?

"Cass downloaded the entire archive from the Progenitor. That hole in the top, is from an anomaly, just like the one we are following. It was created by two ships, firing at a third much larger ship that hit them with something that caused them to turn into anomalies just like the Gar scouts did. Cass said the trajectory of the ships should have carried the anomaly straight through the Progenitor, but it didn't. She also says there are plasma burns around the edges of the hole."

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing this Gillian?"

"I don't know sir. The first time I heard is was...was it only a couple of days ago? No, it had to be longer than that."

"Four day, sixteen hours, fifty-three minutes," Fain said. "I remember Cass telling me about it. She showed me pictures."

"Why wasn't this in one of your reports?" Ezra asked.

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I have longer paragraphs where only one person is speaking. In fact I have several paragraphs where a single person is speaking.

running quote

you can have a single quote lasting several paragraphs. it is called a running quote.

for every paragraph you put an opening quote mark, this denotes the quote is continuing. When you are finished put and ending quote mark.

You can also put more than quote in a sentence like below"

Harry says, "hi Joe.", as he takes a sip of his beer, "How are the wife and kids?"

In this case the period after Joe finishes the quote, but it is followed by a comma so the sentence continues.

I would not suggest putting a ton a paragraphs in a running quote or you may lose the reader.

timelord1963 said:

Harry says, "hi Joe.", as he takes a sip of his beer, "How are the wife and kids?"

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That's wrong. Either

Harry says, "Hi Joe," as he takes a sip of his beer. "How are the wife and kids?"

or

Harry says, "Hi Joe," as he takes a sip of his beer, "how are the wife and kids?"

would be correct, depending on whether you want to think of the 'Hi, Joe," part as a complete sentence or not.

running quote

you can have a single quote lasting several paragraphs. it is called a running quote.

for every paragraph you put an opening quote mark, this denotes the quote is continuing. When you are finished put and ending quote mark.

You can also put more than quote in a sentence like below"

Harry says, "hi Joe.", as he takes a sip of his beer, "How are the wife and kids?"

In this case the period after Joe finishes the quote, but it is followed by a comma so the sentence continues.

I would not suggest putting a ton a paragraphs in a running quote or you may lose the reader.

timelord1963 said:

you can have a single quote lasting several paragraphs. it is called a running quote.

for every paragraph you put an opening quote mark, this denotes the quote is continuing. When you are finished put and ending quote mark.

You can also put more than quote in a sentence like below"

Harry says, "hi Joe.", as he takes a sip of his beer, "How are the wife and kids?"

In this case the period after Joe finishes the quote, but it is followed by a comma so the sentence continues.

I would not suggest putting a ton a paragraphs in a running quote or you may lose the reader.

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If you're going to give advice about punctuation, it helps if you punctuate correctly....

Sentences start with capitals. Three of yours start with lower case.

...below" is incorrect. You could use ...below:

The sentence you give as an example is poorly punctuated. CarlusMagnus is right with his two alternatives; although I think it should be:

Harry says, "hi Joe," as he takes a sip of his beer... (No upper case on "hi").

Definitely not: "hi Joe.",

A period is never followed by a comma. The period denotes the end of the sentence.

Similarly, a comma is never followed by a capital, unless it's a name or a proper noun.

"The OP asked what to do if a long speech ran over several paragraphs. If you imagine this is one long speech, spoken by the same person, you would punctuate it like this.

"The speech continues past the first paragraph, so you do not use end quotes, not yet.

"You wait until the end of the final spoken paragraph, and then put the end quotes in. Like this."

And that's how you punctuate running speech paragraphs. Of course, each paragraph would usually be longer than I've show here, so this is illustrative only.