Wow I haven't written in this in a long time. But I really want to keep posting tips! So please let me know what you guys would like help with!

Today I'm going to be addressing this topic from more of a grammar perspective. So firstly, and most importantly:

Whenever there is a new speaker, make a new paragraph.

Seriously, this is one of the most basic grammar rules, and people mess it up all of the time. Not only is it just wrong, but as a reader, it's so confusing! I have no clue who is speaking.

I can stand it when a book has a couple of grammar issues. i can usually look past it. But when people don't do this, I just can't read it, no matter how good of a story it is.

Let's see this in action, shall we?

Here's what not to do:

"Hi Brendon" I said. He turned around and looked at me. "Hiya Patrick. How are you?" "I am good." "That's cool" "Yeah." I replied and he didn't say anything for a while. "So I have a boyfriend." "WHAT" I yelled. "His name is Ryan." "Aw, I shipped you and Dallon together."

Okay, see how annoying that was? You could probably follow the conversation, but if I threw in a third character, you would be utterly confused.

Let's see what to do with the same paragraph:

"Hi Brendon" I said. 

He turned around and looked at me. "Hiya Patrick. How are you?" 

"I am good." 

"That's cool" 

"Yeah." I replied and he didn't say anything for a while. 

"So I have a boyfriend." 

"WHAT" I yelled. 

"His name is Ryan." 

"Aw, I shipped you and Dallon together."  

Now isn't that much better? You can still understand what's happening. Not onto our next sub-topic:

Dialogue tags.

And now we run into the whole IF YOU SAY 'SAID' YOU ARE DEAD rule that's debated. 

Some people will tell you to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever say said. If you use the word said, you are a terrible, awful, writer. You should use a creative word every time.

Other people will tell you that you should use said. If you use a different word every time, it just gets so confusing and it's just easier for readers if you say said.

And then people tell you it doesn't matter.

So what do I do?

I say, use a happy medium. The purpose of your dialogue tags is not only to let the reader know who is speaking, but how they are speaking. I say that if two characters are just having a normal conversation, then saying said is appropriate. But if they're having a screaming match, you should use words like yelled, screamed, etc.

A dialogue tag doesn't even have to use said, or any other verb that has to do with talking. 

Wait, what?

Yes. Take a look here:

"Gerard!" Frank called.

Gerard whipped around. "Jesus, Frank! What do you want?"

See what I did there? I didn't say 'Gerard said', but I described what he was doing, and you still knew that he was the one speaking. 

Also, you can see that it came before he spoke. They don't always have to be at the end.

They can also be in the middle:

"Gerard!" Frank called.

"Jesus, Frank!" Gerard whipped around. "What do you want?"

See? Magic.

Sometimes, a dialogue tag isn't even needed. If two characters are having a conversation, you don't need to address who's speaking when they're going back and forth. Everntually the readers will get it:

"Harry!" I called. "Harry Potter, you give me my wand right now!"

"I don't have it." He lied.

I took a step forward so that we were face to face. "Give it to me. Now."

He reached into his back pocket. "Uh, Ron has it."

"Don't lie to me!"

"Fine!" He yelled back, drawing the wand from his pocket, and placed it in my hand.

"Thanks."

See? Bam. And I didn't even say said. Moving on.

Punctuation.

Here we go:

1. ALWAYS use double quotations.

2. If you're writing in quotations already, and something is being said that would usually need quotations, use single quotations. See here:

"Can you believe he said that to me? 'I did your mom last night.' What is he, twelve?"

3. Punctuation goes INSIDE the quotations. Not outside, not after. It doesn't matter if it's a comma, period, question mark, whatever.

4. Capitalize the first word a person says, unless it's a split sentence.

5.  If the quote is at the end of the sentence, use a period. If the quote does not end the sentence, use a comma.

This is where you'd use a comma:

"Have a nice day," Pete said.

This is where you'd use a period:

Pete said, "Have a nice day."

Bam. Done. Moving on.

Show, don't tell

Okay, this isn't really a grammatical tip. But, the dialogue should show how your characters are. It should how they interact with each other. As I writer, showing rather than telling is something I continue to struggle with. But dialogue helps that.

Dialogue helps:

1. Expose character traits

Your characters shouldn't all sound the same. They shouldn't all just be sassing each other. If your character is shy, have them speak in short sentences. If your character is loud, have them dominating the conversation. If it's the class clown, have them turn everything into a joke.

Okay, not everything, but you get my point.

2. Shows mood and emotions

Since a lot of times, writing is from only one point of view, you can't get into every character's heads. Dialogue can help show what other characters are thinking. 

3. Establishes relationships

Obviously. People become friends by talking to each other.

4. Provides information

But just because it can do all of this, doesn't mean you should do it all at once. Again, your dialogue should help to show, not tell. So don't do this.

it was my first day of school. I had no friends, but I made them easily! So who cares? I walked up to a random kid.

"Hi, my name is Hayley. I'm new here!"

The boy with purple hair turned around. "Hi, I'm Josh. Josh DUn. I play in a band, I like your hair!"

"Thanks!" I said. "I dye it myself. I'm Hayley. Hayley Williams. I'm 5'2" and I moved here from Tennesse. I can play piano and I sing and I'm in a band too! I have long red hair and green eyes. My Dad left when I was 5 and my mom is abusive and so I have trust issues and this really cliche background but just I like to hide my trust issues by being really loud and annoying and speaking in run on sentences and do information dumps! Hey, but at least I'm starting a new paragraph every time a different one of us speaks!" 

"Wow"

Yeah, wow is right. Don't do this. No. 

Just follow these tips and your dialogue should be significantly better and more readable.

Have a request? Let me know!