The Clinic!

[itslikenature]

Hello fellow writers.  How's the world treating you?  Well I hope.  We are going to talk dialogue today.  If there is one thing that I have trouble with, it is writing dialogue.  Sometimes it looks correct one way, other times it makes me scratch my head.  So for todays trip to The Clinic, can you tell me which dialogue is written correctly?

Comments

[peskywhistpaw]

If I'm not mistaken, it would be:

"I want to go the the beach," she said, putting on her sunglasses. "You know the ocean."

I assume you're not continuing the same sentence, so you use a period. If you are continuing the sentence, then you use a comma. (Then there's also that tricky thing with dashes that always feels like more trouble than it's worth.) At least, that's how I was taught. I may come to find out that's totally wrong.

Dialogue is actually the thing I'm [theoretically] best at in writing, but I know a lot of people struggle with not only writing it, but formatting it. I guess I just somehow got the rules of it pounded into my brain when I was young, so I don't struggle with it as much. [At least, not that I know of.]

[itslikenature]

This is correct. But there are other times when I just go "what?" Thank you very much for your input. It's wonderful to see this discussion off to such a great start.

I don't suppose you have any little rules of thumb you would care to share? Any catchy little sayings that would help us remember our dialogue writing rules?

[peskywhistpaw]

No real rules of thumb, I'm afraid. Just that if it's the same sentence, use a comma to separate, if it's not, use a period.

[itslikenature]

Your input was greatly appreciated. We miss your writing here and hope that you'll find a song to write from again very soon. :)

[bodgei]

I think it depends on the sentance she is saying.

if she is saying "I want to go to the bech, you know, the ocean." or "I want to go to the bech. You know, the ocean."

I think, since this could be one sentance or two I would not split it with a dialog tag and write it "I want to go to the bech, you know, the ocean," she said, putting on her sunglasses.

[itslikenature]

This is great!! You gave us great examples for redoing the sentence to make it flow better and keep the dialogue accurate. This is still one of the harder parts of writing for me.

[bodgei]

Believe it or not that's how I actuly do dialoge - if there is a doubt in the way that the sentance would sound or mean I don't split the sentance.

I don't mind doing dialouge, it's discription I hate.

[itslikenature]

I really get into the descriptions sometimes. I love trying to make a place or thing feel real. I think I'm better at dialogue now than I used to be though.

[itslikenature]

Oh no!! Are you sick and under the weather again? I hope you feel better soon. Then you can give us your helpful ideas. :P

[itslikenature]

I'm glad you're better. Have a good day tomorrow.

[sydneygirl90]

The second one looks correct to me. The capitalization is correct. :)

[sydneygirl90]

Thank you so much! <3

[itslikenature]

Thanks for your comment!! We'll keep working on it till we get it right. LOL