Question about writing dialogues

[Num7]

Hey everyone,

Can you advise me on the standards of writing dialogues in English? For fiction stories.

I currently find myself alternating between 2 formats, here they are:

Dialogues between quotes:

John leaned against the doorframe and asked, "Are you ready for the big presentation tomorrow?"
Sarah looked up from her notes and replied, "I think so, but I'm a bit nervous."
"Don't worry," John reassured her, "you've done all the research. You'll do great."
Sarah smiled, "Thanks, John. Your support means a lot to me."

Dialogues preceded by an Em dash:

— Hey, said John, leaning against the doorframe. Are you ready for the presentation?
— I think so but I'm a bit nervous.
— Don't worry, John reassured her, you'll nail it!

Are the quotes the English standard, as shown in the first example? What are your advice?

Thanks.

 

[MODAT7]

Quotes are much clearer (follows a traditional novel type format). I haven't seen the dash format before. There's also a type of performace script that kinda goes:
John reassuring: Don't worry, you've done all the research. You'll do great.
This is used more in TV and theater and has more of a block type format.

 

[Bones McCoy]

Let the dialogue carry the narrative.

 

[Num7]

Quotes are much clearer (follows a traditional novel type format). I haven't seen the dash format before. There's also a type of performace script that kinda goes:
John reassuring: Don't worry, you've done all the research. You'll do great.
This is used more in TV and theater and has more of a block type format.

Good, thank you for the heads up!

 

[Beholder]

Dashes are cleaner and you can imply who said it right before the dash. If you just described the character, an image of the character stays in mind when the phrases come. No need to make the text into a dense wall where you lose track of where you were reading. Sparse style don't waste any more bytes and prevent people from skimming.

(Describe the visuals and other sensory impressions)

John leaned against the doorframe.
- Are you ready for the big presentation tomorrow?

(Add thoughts in between for dramatic pause)

Sarah looked up from her notes and replied.
- I think so, but I'm a bit nervous.

 

[Num7]

Dashes are cleaner and you can imply who said it right before the dash. If you just described the character, an image of the character stays in mind when the phrases come. No need to make the text into a dense wall where you lose track of where you were reading. Sparse style don't waste any more bytes and prevent people from skimming.

(Describe the visuals and other sensory impressions)

John leaned against the doorframe.
- Are you ready for the big presentation tomorrow?

(Add thoughts in between for dramatic pause)

Sarah looked up from her notes and replied.
- I think so, but I'm a bit nervous.

I think this is the French standard. All my French books have dialogues like this, it's definitely my favorite format, especially the way you made it. You put the images around the lines, not within them.

I did some more research, here's an example of a snippet from The Lord of the Rings. The English version has apostrophes instead of quotes, but let's assume they're quotes for this discussion.

In English:

‘They are far far away,’ he said sadly, turning to Aragorn.​

‘I know in my heart that they have not rested this night. Only an eagle could overtake them now.’​

‘Nonetheless we will still follow as we may,’ said Aragorn. Stooping he roused the Dwarf. ‘Come! We must go,’ he said. ‘The scent is growing cold.’​

‘But it is still dark,’ said Gimli. ‘Even Legolas on a hill-top could not see them till the Sun is up.’​

‘I fear they have passed beyond my sight from hill or plain, under moon or sun,’ said Legolas​

In French:

— Ils sont très, très loin, dit-il avec tristesse, se tournant vers Aragorn.​

— Je sais dans mon coeur qu’ils n’ont pris aucun repos cette nuit. Seul un aigle pourrait les rattraper, à présent.​

— Nous n’en devont pas moins les suivre tant bien que mal dit Aragorn. (Se baissant, il réveilla le Nain.) Allons! Il faut partir dit-il. La piste refroidit.​

— Mais il fait encore sombre, dit Gimli. Même Legolas au sommet d’une colline ne pouvait les voir jusqu’à ce que le soleil soit levé.​

— Je crains qu’ils ne soient sortis du champ de ma vue tant du haut d’une colline que de la plaine, aussi bien à la lumière du soleil qu’à celle de la lune, dit Legolas.​

I can't believe the French version has that many more words, it's pretty uncanny at times.

The more data I have, the more I feel like I'm getting closer to an answer, but I'm still not sure. I'm torn between doing as I please and using dashes. But I'm also tempted to follow what seems to be the English standard and use quotes... Jeez. I'm still not convinced one way or the other!

 

[Beholder]

I think this is the French standard. All my French books have dialogues like this, it's definitely my favorite format, especially the way you made it. You put the images around the lines, not within them.

I did some more research, here's an example of a snippet from The Lord of the Rings. The English version has apostrophes instead of quotes, but let's assume they're quotes for this discussion.

In English:

‘They are far far away,’ he said sadly, turning to Aragorn.​

‘I know in my heart that they have not rested this night. Only an eagle could overtake them now.’​

‘Nonetheless we will still follow as we may,’ said Aragorn. Stooping he roused the Dwarf. ‘Come! We must go,’ he said. ‘The scent is growing cold.’​

‘But it is still dark,’ said Gimli. ‘Even Legolas on a hill-top could not see them till the Sun is up.’​

‘I fear they have passed beyond my sight from hill or plain, under moon or sun,’ said Legolas​

In French:

— Ils sont très, très loin, dit-il avec tristesse, se tournant vers Aragorn.​

— Je sais dans mon coeur qu’ils n’ont pris aucun repos cette nuit. Seul un aigle pourrait les rattraper, à présent.​

— Nous n’en devont pas moins les suivre tant bien que mal dit Aragorn. (Se baissant, il réveilla le Nain.) Allons! Il faut partir dit-il. La piste refroidit.​

— Mais il fait encore sombre, dit Gimli. Même Legolas au sommet d’une colline ne pouvait les voir jusqu’à ce que le soleil soit levé.​

— Je crains qu’ils ne soient sortis du champ de ma vue tant du haut d’une colline que de la plaine, aussi bien à la lumière du soleil qu’à celle de la lune, dit Legolas.​

I can't believe the French version has that many more words, it's pretty uncanny at times.

The more data I have, the more I feel like I'm getting closer to an answer, but I'm still not sure. I'm torn between doing as I please and using dashes. But I'm also tempted to follow what seems to be the English standard and use quotes... Jeez. I'm still not convinced one way or the other!

Officially, I'm supposed to use French decimals as a Swede, but I use dot notation, to not let the comma separated vector (5,8.0) become (5,8,0). At least Macintosh ended the endianness war, so everyone should open their egg from the smaller end when eating breakfast, for the sake of avoiding civil war.

 

[Bones McCoy]

And whatever you do, avoid long explanatory "wall of text" blocks.

 

[Mayhem]

And whatever you do, avoid long explanatory "wall of text" blocks.

Good advice

 

[MODAT7]

I'm still not convinced one way or the other!

Pick what is the clearest, easiest, and quickest to read (a layout that is pleasant to the eye) with a decent text density in the page (don't kill extra trees). Beholder's dash format is similar to the theater format and is easy to read. The French dashed format isn't clear on who's talking. (Anything French, by itself, was never designed to be easy.) Traditional English quote format is usually moderately clear.

You'll want something that's compatible with copy and paste into ebooks (and reader hardware), PDF's, web forums/pages, and small phone screens... unless you enjoy spending hours of busy work reformatting everything for each display type. This brings up the possibility of a generic format that you could more quickly reformat to another type. Maybe the publishing program could handle something like this... like it would understand the difference between a description paragraph and named dialogue. There's also a difference in "final" formatting and "submission" formatting.

The Most Hated Writing Rules As Voted By Writers

What are the most hated rules of writing? This piece of research on the rules writers loathe most you may find insightful!

richiebilling.com

You can tell this was written by a "professional writer" because of the inapropriate use of double spacing that hurts the eyes. Some of the tips seem good.

A Guide to Writing Dialogue, With Examples

“Guess what?” Tanika asked her mother. “What?” her mother replied. “I’m writing a short story,” Tanika said. …

www.grammarly.com

This one uses 1.5 spacing and is much easier to read. The dialogue tips seem good.

And whatever you do, avoid long explanatory "wall of text" blocks.

These should be in a 6 point font with run on sentences...