Dialogue - How To?

[LazyDays1221]

My limited college training has taught me that dialogue should be - as often as possible - in the form of complete sentences just like any other portion of a story. So, along these lines, I have a question of 'how to.'

In my opinion, and agan, with my limited training, I would format/phrase dialogue in the following ways:

"David, I want to go with you." She said.

He replied. "I would like you come with me."

I've always ended each sentence with the punctuation inside the last double quotation. Recently, though, I've been seeing dialogue more in this form:

"David, I want to go with you," she said.

He replied, "I would like you to come with me."

Is the writer correct in using the comma and the lower case 'she?'

I would say these are two independant thoughts (of a type) that would indicate using the period before the closing quotation and start the next sentence with the capitalized 'she.'

Am I using a 'Canadian-ism,' am I just wrong, or am I just seeing the 'American' way of formatting/phrasing dialogue?

Another question: All the references to AV, what is that? Where would I find it?

Thanks to all who help.

 

[DracheDD]

My limited college training has taught me that dialogue should be - as often as possible - in the form of complete sentences just like any other portion of a story. So, along these lines, I have a question of 'how to.'

In my opinion, and agan, with my limited training, I would format/phrase dialogue in the following ways:

"David, I want to go with you." She said.

He replied. "I would like you come with me."

I've always ended each sentence with the punctuation inside the last double quotation. Recently, though, I've been seeing dialogue more in this form:

"David, I want to go with you," she said.

He replied, "I would like you to come with me."

Is the writer correct in using the comma and the lower case 'she?'

I would say these are two independant thoughts (of a type) that would indicate using the period before the closing quotation and start the next sentence with the capitalized 'she.'

Am I using a 'Canadian-ism,' am I just wrong, or am I just seeing the 'American' way of formatting/phrasing dialogue?

Another question: All the references to AV, what is that? Where would I find it?

Thanks to all who help.

In the example you gave, the comma is correct, but there are occasions where a period is used instead of the comma.

Check out this link. http://www.pammc.com/dialogue.htm

It gives a pretty decent explination and some examples to illustrate what they mean.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

My Angle Is Far Different, But I Lack College

My limited college training has taught me that dialogue should be - as often as possible - in the form of complete sentences just like any other portion of a story. So, along these lines, I have a question of 'how to.'

In my opinion, and agan, with my limited training, I would format/phrase dialogue in the following ways:

"David, I want to go with you." She said.

He replied. "I would like you come with me."

I've always ended each sentence with the punctuation inside the last double quotation. Recently, though, I've been seeing dialogue more in this form:

"David, I want to go with you," she said.

He replied, "I would like you to come with me."

Is the writer correct in using the comma and the lower case 'she?'

I would say these are two independant thoughts (of a type) that would indicate using the period before the closing quotation and start the next sentence with the capitalized 'she.'

Am I using a 'Canadian-ism,' am I just wrong, or am I just seeing the 'American' way of formatting/phrasing dialogue?

Another question: All the references to AV, what is that? Where would I find it?

Thanks to all who help.

"David, I want to go with you," she decided.

"I'd like you to come with me."

I'm not sure why it's so important for people to write things like "said" before a quotation, for I feel it's not required. In fact repetitive use of "said" detracts from the story in my humble opinion.

Maybe SR will chime in with his usual (and quite useful) enunciation of the rules. He's quite good at that.

 

[DracheDD]

"David, I want to go with you," she decided.

"I'd like you to come with me."

I'm not sure why it's so important for people to write things like "said" before a quotation, for I feel it's not required. In fact repetitive use of "said" detracts from the story in my humble opinion.

Maybe SR will chime in with his usual (and quite useful) enunciation of the rules. He's quite good at that.

I agree to a point.
I usually only use "he said, she said, etc" when I'm changing speakers, there are too many people in the conversation for the reader to keep straight which one is talking, or I want to attach some sort of action or specific connotation to the speech. i.e. she whispered, he exclaimed, she turned and said, etc. Otherwise, I don't bother.

 

[LazyDays1221]

So, what I think I am getting from the replies so far, is that I should suggest to authors that they just not use the 'he said/she said' stuff?

I don't do this kind of thing in my writing by preference and to ease read-ability; I've been assuming that others do it by preference and because just don't care how read-able their story is.

Is it correct then, to suggest that using the 'he said/she said' is sufficiently cumbersome to reader to make it 'wrong?'

 

[DracheDD]

Well, "wrong" might be a little strong.
I guess it's a personal choice kind of thing. There's nothing technically wrong with doing it, but if it's done too much, then yes it's a little distracting. If the author prefers to do it that way, then that's up to them. As an editor, I try to keep my personal preferences to a minimum. You can certainly suggest other methods to the author, but ultimately it's up to them whether they want to do it or not.

 

[palisa]

A couple of points, LD.

I don't think it's a matter of US or Brit or Canadian usage regarding the punctuation of dialogue as in your examples. The "he said" or any similar wording is always connected to the dialogue itself with a comma, as in the second form you used in your original post. That's pretty much a universal rule in English. A question mark or exclamation point replaces the comma inside the dialogue where warranted, but never a period and a new sentence for the "He said." Same thing in reverse. Never <He said. "Let's go.">

You can use a colon in some cases after the "said," "orated," or "pontificated" or whatnot, but let's not worry about that now.

The comments about always/sometimes/never using "he said" is not a punctuation matter, but one of style and narrative flow. Using "he said" after every line of dialogue gets boring and repetitive and reduces dialogue to primer levels. (See Dick. See Dick run. Run, Dick, run!)

The trick is to keep repetition to the minimum necessary, I think, to avoid confusing the reader about who's doing the talking. In a dialogue between two people with clearly delineated positions, you can probably go quite a few lines without indicating the speaker.

(She wants to go to the charity ball; he will have to be bound and gagged to get him away from the basketball finals on TV. You don't really have to add much to the dialogue itself to keep straight who's talking.)

vs.

(They're trying to decide whether to go to the beach or the mountains, and they're both wavering. You have to be pretty explicit about who is saying what.)

Overusing "said" is still a problem, though, as would be beating any word to death in writing. Using synonyms that indicate emotion are a freebie, adding texture to the dialogue very economically.

"I'm pregnant?" she beamed.

"I'm pregnant?" she whimpered.

 

[sr71plt]

Back to something written in the initial posting: That dialogue had to be complete sentences, at least most of the time. In the world of creative fiction writing, it doesn't. Fiction can follow real life, as long as you keep it under control--as long as the reader can continue with the flow comfortably. People don't talk in complete sentences in real life. You'd want to hit some sort of medium with this, though, as real-life conversations include gestures and expressions and, in many cases, enough prior history between those talking that they can convey meaning in a mutually known code. Fiction strikes for the in-between--close enough to seem real without replicating what would be hard to follow without actually being there, face to face.