Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):
“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.
“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.
“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.
“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”
“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”
“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.
the astronomy students
drawing your own star charts
staying up late to watch a meteor shower
constellations painted on your ceiling
tracking the planets, noting their paths in a pocket-sized journal
an old wool scarf wrapped around your neck to keep out the cold
marveling over photographs of distant galaxies
retelling the stories of Orion and Cassiopeia
the glittering expanse of a cloudless night sky
moonlight shining through gauzy curtains
driving somewhere remote to see the milky way, far from the light pollution of the city
looking for your place in the cosmos
finding comfort in the vastness of the universe, in your own comparative insignificance
a model of the solar system resting on your desk
old sci-fi novels with battered covers
studying the contributions of Copernicus and Al-Battani and Kepler
watching the moon wax and wane
your favorite blanket wrapped around your shoulders
maps of the constellations, illustrated with figures from the associated myths
wondering about life on other worlds
memorizing the constellations, noting how their positions move as the seasons change
a thermos of hot tea
stargazing with friends, gazing up and watching for shooting stars
learning the physics of stars and planets
a fascination with the unknown
Not every writer wants to post their work online, however there are positives to doing so. If you seek feedback and advice from readers and writers, you might consider posting a draft or two. Even a few chapters or a poem can be uploaded online to get a little audience feedback.
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no, that’s a mandrake. The Mandalorian was an equal rights activist who was assassinated in the ‘60s.
the mandalorian? isn’t that bitch the powerhouse of the cell?
My MC has a friend who's a talking cat
Hello my lovely friends, I love hearing from you all and learning about your WIPs SO if you see this, COMMENT AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR WIP!
I capitalized that so it would get your attention 😏
“You’d have what? Disgusted me to death?” “Maybe, but it’s been a long time since I’ve met someone who didn’t know or try to arrest me.” “Why’s everyone calling me little? I’m probably taller than you.”
I feel attacked
i don’t think I’m ever going to get over this line
Rules: Tag the person who tagged you, then bold the things in this list that you have done, then tag five to ten other writers!
Tagged by @radiowrites, thank you kindly. This one looks fun.
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Omniscient POV
Past Tense
Present Tense
Future Tense
A complete story
A story longer than 1k
A story longer than 5k
A story longer than 10k
A story longer than 50k
A story longer than 100k
A story longer than 150k
A story shorter than 1k
A story shorter than 500 words
Fanfiction
Original Fiction
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Historical fiction
Dystopian
A story in the Romance Genre
A Story with No Speculative Elements At All
Non-fiction
A children’s book
A story about vampires
A story about robots
A story with a non-human protagonist
A story with a main character based on yourself
A story with a character based on somebody you know
Male POV
Female POV
A POV character the opposite sex from yourself
Animal’s POV
Multiple Viewpoints
POV character under age 15
POV character over age 30
A story told in non-chronological order
Story with a happy ending
Story with a sad ending
Death of a minor character
Death of a major character
Death (offscreen)
Death (onscreen)
Antagonist death
Protagonist death
Villain gets a redemption arc
Kissing scene
Sex scene (offscreen)
Sex scene (onscreen)
Swears (Mild)
Swears (Heavy)
Violence (PG or under)
Violence (PG-13 or over)
Fight scene
Torture scene
A flashback
A dream sequence
A scene that made you cry actual tears (i never wrote a scene that made me cry but it was real close so i’m counting it)
A scene that made you laugh at your own joke
A prologue
An epilogue
A story with more than 30 chapters
A chapter with fewer than 100 words
A poem
A prophecy
Story that takes place in the future
Story that takes place in the past
Story that takes place in a world that is not Earth
An anti-hero
An anti-villain
A parody
Description of male character’s scent
Description of female character’s boobs
Character with eyes of a non-natural color