Narrative Writing Using Dialogue in Narrative Writing
Prepared by Mrs. Kieffer Last Modified 1-16-2014
Put quotation marks around words that actually come out of a character’s mouth. Keep words like he said, she said, and other attributions outside the quotes. For example: Caitlin said, “I can’t wait to begin the next writing assignment.”
Capitalize the first letter of the first word the speaker says. For example:
Maddie yelled, “Jamie is trying to bite me!”
Remember to separate the quote with a comma, question mark, or exclamation point inside the ending quotation mark. For example:
“Mr. Hummels will be teaching our writing class,” whispered Mrs. Kieffer.
“I finally finished my 50 page rough draft!” shouted Claire.
“Can we write essays every week?” asked Hannah.
Every time a different character talks, indent for a new paragraph, even if he or she says only one word. For example:
“That vulture keeps staring at me,” stated Phil uneasily.
“He has a name,” replied Gabe.
“It’s Jamie Kaallil. Mrs. Kieffer's PAWS named him last year,” added Beau.
“I don’t care about his name. I’m keeping an eye on him,” answered Phil.