Q&A for How to Format Dialogue in a Story

A dialogue can be any length, but avoid making it too long, as it could make the reader become bored or lost.

It's customary to start a new paragraph after dialogue.

I try to add an action or the name of a speaker every four or five replies when two people are speaking. This reminds the reader of who is talking, and adds more context. If you feel like a conversation has been going on for a while, you might want to take the time to describe a little more of what they're doing while talking. An example being (near the end of a fight): "'That's it! I can't do it anymore!' Jeremy's voice raised to the point where he was screaming and the fists he'd previously balled at his side were thrown up as he paced. Ron honestly felt like doing the same, but at least one of them should be calm."

Put the poetry inside secondary quotes.

The same way you would write real book titles - italicized.

You could always use Grammarly. It won't tell you about some errors (word choice, complex sentences, etc.), but it will alert you about spelling, punctuation and tense errors. As a writer without funds for a proofreader, you'll need to learn how to polish your own writing - your library will have a lot of books on English grammar; begin checking them out and studying them so you can avoid common mistakes. Reputable publishers don't charge to consider at your manuscript; once it's polished to a professional level, simply submit it to appropriate markets (after reviewing proper manuscript format and proposal package guidelines).

There are quite a few synonyms for "said." Use a few of them occasionally: remarked, commented, asked, interjected, blurted out, opined, whispered, shouted, yelled, declared, told, alleged, averred, spoke, stated, affirmed, mentioned, recited. These words don't necessarily mean exactly the same as "said," so be sure you know what they mean before you use them.

Dialogue is tricky. If you're changing speakers throughout the dialogue, you will need to start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes with an indent. If the dialogue is coming from one speaker in a larger chunk, you can break it up into small paragraphs with an indent in front of each beginning line. (In that case, do not put closing quotation marks until the end of the LAST paragraph, not each individual paragraph.)

Skipping a space ordinarily implies a break in the narrative (similar to a fade-to-black in film). In writing, each successive comment from two or more characters should immediately follow the prior remark without skipping a space. One exception is script-writing, where successive lines are commonly separated by blank spaces for ease of reading.

Maybe just say something like, "Jane paused, listening."

All paragraphs -- whether dialogue or not -- end with a period (full stop), question mark or exclamation mark (and quotation mark in the case of dialogue). If the next paragraph is dialogue, it begins with an indentation, a quotation mark and (in most cases) a capital letter.

"Thanks for the help," he said with a smile, "I really appreciate it." Something like that?

Use quotes, but don't italicize unless you're implying added importance for the words or indicating a raised voice (shouting).

You can prevent reader confusion by devoting a new paragraph to the next speaker's reaction and yet another paragraph to that person's next comment.

There's no hard-and-fast rule about this. Some authors punctuate thoughts the same way they punctuate speech. Others omit the quotation marks, or they italicize thoughts (especially short ones). Do it the way that looks best to you. The main goal is to avoid confusing the reader.

Yes, each succeeding comment in a conversation should be given its own paragraph (even short comments).

Don't indent if it is a continuing monologue.

Yes, that's the usual practice.

Yes. The question mark is replacing a comma, and capitalization remains the same.

Narration -- especially if it is more than just a few words in length -- should begin in a new paragraph. And 23 lines devoted exclusively to back-and-forth dialogue might be confusing or tiresome for some readers.

It can be done either way. Assigning the dialogue to a new paragraph adds a little more importance to the action preceding the dialogue.