[Writing] The Interrupter: Blending Action and Dialog Dynamically

[gabe_speaks]

She sidled up beside me and, with the boniest of her fingers, began to poke me in the chest as she spoke

Comments

[sesheta_66]

This was great (I truly was excited when you said you'd be doing this), as it's the one grammatical 'thing' that gets me the most. I have often worked around it by re-writing without the break, for fear it didn't look/sound right. So yay! *\o/*

[gabe_speaks]

well, i'm glad to have been of some service. ;-)

edity: ooh, icon love! so very pretty!

[nathaniel_hp]

Awesome, you're a star!

If I happen to come across any British examples, I'll send them to you.

[gabe_speaks]

schweeeet! i'd be most grateful!

and thanks!

[aldehyde]

this is such an EXCELLENT entry! i've always been huge fans of "the interrupter" - i just didn't realise it until i read the breakdown in your post. i'm especially fond of the kind christopher moore uses [he's a genius!] but you're completely right about it having to fit the style. i don't think i could stand it if every author used that technique.

i also like the "dramatic pause" type, where you can almost envision what the characters are doing [whether performing an action or creating drama within the conversation].

okay, off to + this to my memories!

[gabe_speaks]

thanks for reading! i'm glad you enjoyed the mini-'lesson', as it were. ;-)

and the dramatic pause... [Gabe took a sip from his chianti] ...is wonderful.

;-) x 2

[catsintheattic]

Here via pir8's rec.

This is a great post. As a non-native speaker, I'm almost certain that a lot of subtleties are lost on me, but this is great study material. I just need a bit of time to digest it. :-) Thank you so much for sharing!

I absolutely second your intro: writing needs rhythm - on a larger scale as well as in a single scene - the same as music does.

[gabe_speaks]

thank you very much for reading, and responding with such kind words!

I absolutely second your intro: writing needs rhythm - on a larger scale as well as in a single scene - the same as music does.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[grey_hunter]

Interesting. I liked some of these, except the ones without spaces. It took me ages to puzzle that first one out. I usually just skip unreadable formats. If you don't put in spaces then it looks like the writings of those at ff.net who can't type and think that punctuation substitutes spaces. *frowns* It took me ages to get used to quotation marks denoting speaking and now you say I shall not write spaces!!! I'm despairing for dyslexics. :P

[gabe_speaks]

If you don't put in spaces then it looks like the writings of those at ff.net who can't type and think that punctuation substitutes spaces. *frowns*

how do they do it in books published in Hungary? I'd really like to know.

It took me ages to get used to quotation marks denoting speaking and now you say I shall not write spaces!!!

:lol:

well, i'm not saying you have to, per se; rather, it looks more... interruptive to me. (wow, my spellchecker didn't go crazy with 'interruptive'... whoduthunkit?)

how do they indicate quotes in Hungary? is it like the German >> << ...? Or the French -7ndash; ...?

[grey_hunter]

:D I don't know the French way. I have a few German books and just checked and it uses >>...<< to denote speaking. Weird. I didn't remember that! But it is a lot more eye-catching than double or single quotation marks. In Hungarian books, quotation marks are reserved for quotes, and apostrophes/single quotation marks are never used, except in foreign words. Speech starts with an em-dash and when it switches to action between the speech then it is another em-dash with spaces and no other punctuation necessary, except if the sentence would have one if it weren't speech. For example:

-- Of course -- he said finally. -- I've always been here.
-- Here? -- she asked.

etc. etc.

[gabe_speaks]

yeah, that's the French way, too.

That's neat!

But yeah, I think the Hungarian way would make me think too much of programming and coding... ;-)

But it's always easier to get used to what you're... well... already used to, innit? ;-)