ANSWER: Dialogue Tags Before Speech
starry_diadem asked, "How do you punctuate and capitalize when the dialogue tag comes before the speech?"
With examples from Once Upon a Time
So what is a dialogue tag anyway? In the simplest terms, this is the whole "he said/she said" bit of your dialogue. There are variations, of course, for those of us who like to spice it up a little. And let's not get ( Read more... )
With examples from Once Upon a Time
So what is a dialogue tag anyway? In the simplest terms, this is the whole "he said/she said" bit of your dialogue. There are variations, of course, for those of us who like to spice it up a little. And let's not get ( Read more... )
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The emdash-interruption! This one is a rare find in grammar books, but it's legit. Basically, you insert an action into the middle of a piece of dialogue... without using a speech tag! This one is wild. The best way to explain, really, is to show you: "And so, Captain Almond"--Trumpetpuffer brushed a piece of fur from his uniform--"we have sent your vile crew of nut pirates to Davy Jones' locker!"
That one's so fun to use, I sometimes go out of my way to fit it into sentences. "You don't normally find something in the middle of dialogue," Winterbite said, "unless it's a speech tag." But with this little trick, you get to shove anything you like into the middle of the sentence. Not too much, though, please... our memories might not be good enough to remember where the dialogue left off if you take unfair advantage of this amazing new ability.
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