How to write dialogue

The basics of writing dialogue

Hopefully these guidelines will teach you everything you need to know about writing dialogue. Where the instructions mention arrows, you will only see boxes as the format got a bit messed up when I copied and pasted the document across!

1. Everything a character says should have speech marks either side of it.

EXAMPLE:

       

‘What is our mission?’ asked Mario.

‘How many times,’ said Luigi, ‘do we have to defeat Bowser in battle before he actually dies?’

It is up to you whether you want to use double (“) speech marks or single (‘) speech marks, but generally speaking, in England we use singles, whereas in America they use doubles.

YOUR TURN:

Have a go at putting speech marks around all the speech in the lines below:

If you jump up there you get an extra life, said Mario.

So what’s the name of this princess we’re supposed to be rescuing? asked Luigi.

Oh no, it’s Bowser! Mario exclaimed.

The funny thing is, said Luigi, I’ve never done any plumbing in my life!

You saved me! said Princess Peach. She was so happy to see them. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be stuck in that tower.

It’s funny, said Mario, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to Italy. Me neither, Luigi replied.

2. When a new person starts speaking, you start a new line and indent it, but as the speech carries on, you do not indent.

EXAMPLE:

     ‘How are we going to get there?’ asked Mario.

        ‘I think we have to jump over that giant mushroom but it looks quite difficult,’ Luigi replied.

In this example, the long lines show where the paragraph should be indented, and the shorter line shows where it should just carry on.

YOUR TURN:

If you are doing this on a computer, have a go at using the tab key to indent the speech in the correct places below. If you are doing this on paper, draw arrows to show where the indentations should go. Either way, you will also need to add speech marks.

I don’t know if I can jump that high, said Mario.

My head hurts from all the blocks I’ve been headbutting, Mario complained.

Where’s the castle? Luigi asked. I think it’s just past that giant pool of fire, Mario replied.

‘You’ll never guess who I saw the other day, said Luigi. Who? asked Mario. Only that Sonic the Hedgehog, Luigi told him.

Do you ever get bored of this? Luigi asked. Bored of what? Mario replied. You know, said Luigi, all this running around and jumping. Erm, said Mario as he thought about this, not really, to be honest.

3. Most of the time, a spoken sentence will end with a comma, followed by the closing speech mark, then an explanation of who is speaking, followed by a full stop. Sometimes, the character will then start a new sentence, which will need to start with a capital letter.

EXAMPLE:

     ‘Let’s jump up onto that ledge to get a better look,’ said Mario. ‘From up there, we should be able to see.’

The arrows show the comma, the closing speech mark and the full stop.

YOUR TURN:

Have a go at adding commas, speech marks and full stops to the following sentences. You will also need to indent or draw arrows where appropriate.

I don’t know where to go next said Mario

I think we have to jump across that ravine replied Luigi

Ha ha ha! I’ve got you now exclaimed Bowser There’s no escape this time

Oh no said Mario he’s got us now. There’s no escape this time

He’s got us now said Luigi

I do hope those brave plumbers can rescue me said Princess Peach

4. Sometimes you will want to let the reader know who is speaking in the middle of a long sentence, so as not to keep them hanging. It is okay to break up a spoken sentence to do this.

EXAMPLE:

        ‘I think it’s fire,’ said Mario, ‘but I can’t be sure.’

The top arrows show where the second set of speech marks should go. The first bottom arrow shows where a comma should go and the second bottom arrow shows where a full stop should go.

YOUR TURN:

Have a go at adding commas, speech marks and full stops to the sentences below. You will also need to indent or add arrows to show where indentations should be.

I know a great restaurant said Mario where they serve enormous bowls of pasta

I don’t understand said Luigi why we have to rescue this princess

It does seem a little strange said Mario that we should go to so much effort to rescue her when we don’t even know anything about her

When all this is over said Luigi can we go and live on a beach somewhere great idea said Mario