quotations and dialogue and such

[crazychocolate]

the general rule for dialog (dialogue?) is that each new speaker is a new paragraph, right? so... if i wanted to say something like this:

Matt twiddled his thumbs for a bit and then replied, "blablablablabla..."
Sherry hesitated a moment, and asked, "blablablabla?"

is that right? or can i leave it all as one paragraph? or is this a bad rule in general? :shock:

help is much appreciated!

 

[Tdol]

It's generally a speaker a paragraph. You sometimes see more than one speaker embedded in a paragraph where there speech isn't a major part, but in a proper coversation, I'd stick to the rule. Conversation can be hard to follow and the paragraphs signal; changes clearly. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

When you change speakers, start a new paragraph. It's a good rule. Failing to follow that rule results in confusing the reader.

http://forums.about.com/ab-teenwriting3/start