Yet Another Grammar thread

[Plathfan]

I'm working on a story for the upcoming Nude Day event, which is essentially a long monologue addressed to an unknown silent listener.

I've decided not to start each new paragraph with an open quotation mark, as it seems rather pointless, even if grammatically correct.

What do you think?

 

[Priscilla_June]

I'm working on a story for the upcoming Nude Day event, which is essentially a long monologue addressed to an unknown silent listener.

I've decided not to start each new paragraph with an open quotation mark, as it seems rather pointless, even if grammatically correct.

What do you think?

I agree, I have written it both ways, and upon writing it with quotation marks for each paragraph my editor said that it was confusing. Their point to me was that it would signal its a new speaker each time. So I would simply put one at the beginning and end. BUT I think maybe it would help the reader understand that it is indeed a monologue if you broke it up with descriptors:

“LOTS OF TEXT AND MONOLOGGING”

Subject twirled his mustache while cackling manically.

“MORE MONOLOGGING.”

Gives the reader a chance to breath?

 

[TheLobster]

I agree, I have written it both ways, and upon writing it with quotation marks for each paragraph my editor said that it was confusing

That’s because it is. Open and closed quotation mark indicates beginning and end of a dialogue spoken by a single character. Immediate, subsequent quotes always signify another character speaking. You can intersperse long speech with bits of narrative action but you’d probably need to sprinkle in variants of ‘he continued’ to keep it cohesive.

For long monologues, you need to omit the closing quotation marks in intermediate paragraphs. But you still want the opening ones, to remind the reader it’s speech, not narration.

This saying, if a story is just one giant monologue, isn’t that simply a second person narrator?

 

[Plathfan]

This saying, if a story is just one giant monologue, isn’t that simply a second person narrator?

No, because in my case, the narrator speaks mainly about themselves and recent unfolding events, resembling more of a confession. I could've opted for a private diary or a letter format, but addressing an unknown listener, I believe, has a more dramatic and emotional effect.

 

[StillStunned]

I'd write it without any quotation marks. If you need to distinguish any text that isn't part of the monologue, you could try putting it in italics.

 

[TheLobster]

No, because in my case, the narrator speaks mainly about themselves and recent unfolding events, resembling more of a confession.

Then that's a first person narration. And like @StillStunned said, you could treat the (hopefully very scant) pieces of meta-narration around it as a mild break in the fourth wall and thus use a nonstandard formatting for them.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Why not follow the grammatical convention that makes it explicit that it is the same speaker speaking, and speaking for a very long time? Otherwise, you're writing a letter. That's why we have grammar, not Humpty Dumpty.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree with your instinct. If the entire story is written as a monologue this way, then there's no need for those extra quotation marks. They will call attention to themselves. Your text will be read as a first-person narrative, albeit a narrative that is being told as a monologue from one person to another.

 

[StillStunned]

I agree with your instinct. If the entire story is written as a monologue this way, then there's no need for those extra quotation marks. They will call attention to themselves. Your text will be read as a first-person narrative, albeit a narrative that is being told as a monologue from one person to another.

Like here, for example.

 

[intim8]

Like others have said, if the entire story is one long monologue, and there's no narration of action outside what this speaker says, then it is effectively just a 1p narration and doesn't need quotes.

But if there is anything in it that is not this person speaking, then it will need to be marked out with quotes.

 

[SimonDoom]

Like here, for example.

Yes. That's a good example.

A couple of suggestions for Plathfan:

1. During the course of the monologue you could, at times, recall a conversation that you participated in or overheard, and thereby add dialogue into the monologue, thereby breaking up the solid block of narrative.

2. You could use the monologue itself as a dramatic device, slowly unfolding during its course what its purpose is, who the participants are, and perhaps unveiling its purpose only at the end. That may or may not fit with what you are trying to do. But think about WHY you want to tell it as a monologue and make that purpose part of the story.