Monday, November 28, 2011

Fiction Writing - Blog #2: Quotation Punctuation

Quotation punctuation is pretty self-explanatory; it's how a writer chooses to format the punctuation within the spoken dialogue of their characters.  Many writers tend to have their own style for quotation punctuation, but there is a set of guidelines that show us the standard for quotation punctuation.

Quotation Punctuation Rules
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp


My chosen author is J.K. Rowling.  Here's a small excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Weasley twins, Fred and George, first meet Harry:

"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?"  said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin.  "Are you -?"
"He is," said the first twin.  "Aren't you?"  he added to Harry.
"What?"  said Harry.
"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry.  "I mean, yes, I am."

This is a pretty basic example of standard quotation punctuation.  Commas are used instead of periods at the end of statements within quotations.  Every new line of dialogue spoken by a different character is given a new paragraph, etc.  Here's a small example from my novel idea Love[s] of My Life of how I present my dialogue:

"Pssssst!"
She turned her beautiful face toward me and gave me that sweet smile, "Hey!"  She took a seat in the armchair next to mine.
"Finished already?"  I asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah.  I just had a couple things to check and a few e-mails to send out."
I could feel her aura wrapping around my body, "What you got to do now?"
"Nothing," she shrugged.  "I have like two hours before my next class.  Didn't you say you had to study?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm good.  I did plenty of studying last night," I lied with a grin.

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