Don’t let dialogue and punctuation marks outsmart you in creative fiction writing.

Dialogue between characters is one great way to engage in character development. Usage of quotes can become very complicated in your characters’ dialogue, but you don’t have to struggle with how to use quotes along with commas, periods, capitalization, the em dash, the ellipses, and other marks. Use the templates below for models on how to use quotation marks, and you will be a whiz at this in no time.

Your word processing program will probably use smart quotes. The quote marks curl toward the words. You may set your word processor to use straight quotes if you prefer. Be sure you are consistent and always use one or the other throughout your entire writing.

1. Using the ellipses to show the thought trails off, when the sentence is incomplete:

End with a blank, then the three dots, the quote, a blank.
“I, I, I . . .” he stuttered.

A non-quote new sentence follows: Capitalize the new sentence.
“Still she’s reckless, and that temper of hers . . .” Not to mention the prickly pride.

A new paragraph follows:

“I don’t know what to say, Aramis. They’re your best friends, not my best friends. I’ve no right to tell them. But maybe . . .”

2. Using the ellipses within quotes when the sentence is complete:

A new sentence, within the same quote follows. Note there is a period before the three dots.
“He has my father’s signet ring, and Papa never let that out of his possession. . . . They murdered my father in Belgium.”

The quote sentence is complete and is followed by a new non-quote sentence:
“And Uncle Porthos even took me on his horse. . . .” Suddenly, the boy stopped as if realizing he had a crowd.

3. Quote starts the sentence; the “he said” is in the middle, and then the quote continues:

Don’t capitalize the continued sentence.
“My father’s out of the country,” she began in a measured tone, “and a lone woman could hardly welcome a group of strange men to her home.”

4. Quote starts the sentence, ends with a comma and quote and blank and the “he said.”:

Do not capitalize the word after the closing quote unless it is a proper name or the word “I.”
“He will see you now,” the servant said, bowing as Athos thanked him.

Quote ends with a question mark and is followed by the “he said:”
Don’t capitalize the “he said” part.
“Do we have an agreement?” the unofficial leader of the group asked.

5. Quote starts in the middle of the sentence:

Put a comma after the leading “he said.” Have one blank, then the quotation mark, then the first word of the quote capitalized.
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “It was just a possible explanation. I know it’s not a very good one.”

6. Use the em dash to show a pause in the quote that is all one sentence:

Use no spaces before or after the dash.
“You know what I really wish? I really wish you could find it in your heart to trust me?to not always play the gentleman. However, it’d be more than enough if you just decided to be your real self.”

Use the em dash to show one sentence trails off and then a new sentence begins:
Capitalize the new sentence. Use one space after the closing quote.
“Yes, but?” She silenced him with a kiss.
“I think so, but?On second thought, it’s not true,” he said.

Kat Jaske ?2006 All rights reserved

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‘Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.’ – Albert Einstein

It could be that a writer has gone to college and has excelled in a certain field. This writer is generally called upon, in an expert capacity, to help define and delineate specific issues associated with their field of study.

If you were to ask these individuals if they have arrived and if they have learned all they need to know they will most likely answer with a resounding, “NO!” However, many writers dismiss research as a real detriment to actual writing.

Research may not be fun, but it is needed for the purposes of article articulation. It also encourages long-term learning and it IS a skill that can be learned.

Many writers live long and productive lives. Perhaps one of the reasons is they refuse to let their mind atrophy. The mind is constantly in use in the development of a story and in the research needed to complete it.

‘I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso

In the field of content writing for example, it is the writer’s responsibility to adapt to a specific writing style and perhaps write about a subject they may have no specific prior knowledge.

These writers rely heavily on their ability to educate themselves on a subject so they can provide a comprehensive and understandable body of work revolving around a subject they may have never considered before.

Building Blocks

For every bit of research you engage in you will find invisible chords binding your entire collective thought process together. Every fact you assimilate is another building block that will likely be useful in not only your present work, but also in future endeavors.

You should never consider research time a ?waste’ or even a ?necessary evil’. Research is a tool that adds long-term stability to your body of knowledge and potential to all future projects you may participate in.

“The mind is like a clock that is constantly running down and must be wound up daily with good thoughts” – Fulton J Sheen

Learn, and accept the opportunity to continue to learn – your writing will be better for your careful attention to detail and it may open publishing doors you may have never anticipated.

Popularity: 13% [?]

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Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. – Dale Carnegie

Some of the special skills discussed in writing may have you feeling as if there is really no room for expressing your own personality in your writing. However, there is always a misunderstood need for personal innovation in storytelling. There will always be intriguing stories that defy conventional wisdom.

Children’s author Pamela Jane struggled with the advice she was receiving from others in the field of children’s literature. The suggestion was that Pamela should write about the subjects she knew. She was advised to avoid stories about dolls, fantasy and seasonal titles.

As it turns out, Pamela had just written a story about a doll she had owned as a child and the imagination she used to convey a fantasy Christmas story.

Pamela angrily accepted the advise of her writing friends and set the story aside. However, another friend encouraged her to at least explore the possibility of publishing the story.

“I decided to send it to an obscure regional publisher who might not have heard that seasonal doll fantasies were pass?,” says Pamela. However, before the work could be reviewed Pamela was encouraged to send it to a major publishing house.

Pamela did not follow the normal pattern for children’s literature and she did not follow the accepted pattern for cover letters.

The query simply read, “It’s a Christmas fantasy about a little girl and a ballet doll.” Pamela assumed it would to be an automatic refusal so she didn’t attempt to put her best foot forward.

The editor that looked at her sparse cover letter responded with four words that defied the odds, “Please send your story.”

That story, “Noelle of the Nutcracker”, became the first of more than twenty children’s books for Pamela Jane. While she has had more conventional books, her first was one that helped Pamela see that sometimes writing does not need to follow a prescribed formula to connect with a reader.

There are no guarantees in writing, however if you have something that you really believe in follow through with it even if the experts insist you might have it wrong. Accept their advice and then do what you feel you have to do. You might just have a success hiding away on a shelf somewhere.

Popularity: 12% [?]

English is the dominant Internet and business language so making cash online (or offline) often involves English writing. More importantly perhaps, is the fact that everyday, but life-changing documents, resumes job applications, essays, term papers, business plans, loan and rental applications, and sales letters, are often written in English.

How often has your next career or business initiative relied on the English writing in a document?

How often has the reader chosen someone else’s document instead of yours?

How often have subtle messages in the writing, often sub-conscious, swung a life-changing decision against you? Often, you will not be told the real reason.

English is a very complex and forgiving spoken language, but a demanding and unforgiving language in its written form. When people are talking, there is usually enough contextual and other information to work out the meaning. So, if the words are spoken in the wrong order, or wrong words, or incorrect grammar used, the listener can usually work out what the speaker really means. In conversational english, you can get away with a lot.

However, written English is not so forgiving and, once you hit the enter key, it’s too late. You cannot get your business submission, resume, proposal, or assignment back. It has to be right before submission.

Readers of written English, both online and offline, form very quick judgments about the written English used in critical documents. Micro-second judgements are formed when reading life-changing written documents like resumes, business letters, loan and tenancy applications, proposals, grant submissions, assignments, term papers, business emails and other forms of written communication. The writing in documents can be judged very harshly.

One of the problems is, where English is a second language, people tend to think in their first language and then translate into English. Often the translation process is done subconsciously using the grammar and other rules of their primary language. The results tend to jumble the grammar and syntax so their English writing becomes stilted and awkward. The writing loses its ?flow’ and, in turn, confuses or irritates the reader.

This means, very often, the long hours, effort, and hard work and preparation put into the document begin to unravel at the last hurdle – writing the document in English. The written communication does not adequately reflect the character of the writer.

I used to work in a multi-cultural call centre in Australia and saw this happening a lot. Friends and colleagues would come to me for advice about writing their resumes, covering letters and various other written documents. Their writing was stilted, repetitive and difficult to read. I would work through the document, leave their ideas and concepts intact, but improve the flow and readability of the document so that the reader could more easily and quickly move through the written information.

I am a writer and provided the service for nothing and in my spare time. They were friends and colleagues who just wanted to get an interview, find a better position, and move forward in life. I have the skills, love writing, and had a well paid job. I could afford to help people. Finding someone who will do that and charge nothing is a rarity.

However, why rely on the favours of others when software is available, an online English writing tool that makes English writing easy. English writing software can give your writing the professional edge that makes the difference between being read or being left for dead.

Popularity: 13% [?]

There are a variety of online and software programs that provide writers with assistance in developing stories, poetry and even screenplays.

As with writing these programs were developed by someone well versed in the art of writing in a certain style and the software allows you to write in a similar fashion.

Power Structure

According to product information, “Power Structure is outlining software with a story development heart. If you are a writer who’s learned your craft you want software that will learn YOUR system, YOUR terminology, YOUR dramatic sense. Power Structure’s fully customizable interface is designed to create the writing environment that totally works for you.”

This product for fiction writers is sold for $150 retail, but may provide a solid base for conforming to your personal style as opposed to insisting you develop a new style.

First Aid for Writers

Would it be worth it to you to have a program that helped get you off of dead center in your writing journey? First Aid for Writers touts these benefits?

Eliminates writer’s block, backstory techniques, revision, and pitch techniques

QuickFix for beginnings, indoor/outdoor description, characterization, pacing, concealing exposition, employing other senses, ‘give-away’ prevention.

Non-fiction: Beginnings, conflict and drama, suspense, originality, dialogue dangers.

This literary aid retails for $300 and works more as an interactive assistant enabling you to get moving in your writing career.

Movie Outline

If you are involved in writing screenplays one of the products available to assist you is Movie Outline. Product information indicates, “By streamlining the creation process of each scene and the outline structure as a whole, Movie Outline gives the Screenwriter the space to think and view the full outline of their story while simultaneously working on individual scenes.”

The retail price on this product is $80 and may be very useful to those beginning a screenwriting career.

WriteExpress Rhymer

While there are numerous free rhyming dictionaries online, WriteExpress Rhymer and Phonetic Finder indicates it can, “Find the rhymes you need to complete your masterpiece. With over 93,000 words, Rhymer takes the storm out of brainstorming so you can spend your time creating.”

The retail price on this product is $25 although there are sites where certain versions of the product are freely downloadable.

Friend or Foe

These and countless other software products are geared toward assisting writers to become better at what they do. For some writers, the use of these products seems to take creative energy away from the project. However, it may be that any software product that can assist you while you learn a new writing process could be a valid consideration.

The real lesson in all of this is we should never stop learning and never stop growing as writers. You can consider software a friend or foe, but in the end it is you that will ultimately be responsible to actually write.

Popularity: 12% [?]