How to Punctuate Dialogue

Incorrectly punctuated dialogue is one of the most frequent mistakes I see in manuscripts from writers who are just starting out. Luckily, you can master this skill with practice and patience. In this crash course, I’ll cover the difference between dialogue tags and action beats, where to shove your commas, what types of verbs to use, and the various kinds of punctuation that might appear in dialogue. I’m using the guidelines from "The Chicago Manual of Style," which is the preferred style guide for fiction publishing in the United States.
Dialogue Punctuation Cheat Sheet: docs.google.com/document/d/1r... (To download the file from Google Docs, go to the upper left-hand corner and click File, then Download, then Word or PDF.)
You can read a text version of this video on Medium: / how-to-punctuate-dialogue
Love my channel? Treat me to a cup of coffee at ko-fi.com/quotidianwriter.
My Published Stories and Poems: www.quotidianwriter.com/my-wr...
Twitter: / quotidianwriter
Opening Animation by Vitor A. Dupont: www.behance.net/vitordupont
Title and End Music: “Clockwork” by Vindsvept - • Fantasy Music - Vindsv...
Background Music by Vindsvept:
+ “A Place to Call Home”
+ “Chasing Shadows”
+ “Light the Bonfire”
+ “Illuminate”
+ “Alone”
+ “The Journey Home”
+ “The Forgotten Forest”
+ “Leaving the Dream”
+ “Keeper of the Forest”
+ “Voyage to Nowhere”
SOURCES
Crystal Shelley of Rabbit with a Red Pen (the copy editor who fact-checked my script): www.rabbitwitharedpen.com/ser...
A fun interview about writing that I did with Josiah Bradley, who narrated the “Beloved” excerpt in this video: anchor.fm/josiahsvoicepod/epi...
“How to Punctuate Dialogue in a Novel” by Louise Harnby: www.louiseharnbyproofreader.c...
“Dot Dot Dot: A Closer Look at the Ellipsis” by Russell Harper: cmosshoptalk.com/2019/07/30/d...
“How to Use Semicolons in Fiction” by Sophie Playle: www.liminalpages.com/semicolo...
“Unquote: The Benefits of Excising Quotation Marks” by Jonathan Russell Clark: themillions.com/2015/04/unquo...
“Does fiction still need speech marks? A potted history of vanishing punctuation” by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: www.penguin.co.uk/articles/20...
Introduction (0:00)
Commas with Dialogue Tags (1:24)
Action Beats (7:11)
Acceptable Dialogue Tags (13:00)
Direct Address/Vocatives (18:49)
Contractions (21:30)
Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Hyphens (22:34)
Ellipses (24:21)
Colons and Semicolons (25:31)
Quotes within Quotes (27:35)
Monologues (28:18)
Dialogue without Quotation Marks (29:29)
Practice Test (30:39)

[@QuotidianWriter]

Hi there, viewers! You can read a text version of this video on Medium: quotidianwriter.medium.com/how-to-punctuate-dialogue-287d10b320e0 See the video description for the link to my free downloadable "cheat sheet" on how to punctuate dialogue. :)

[@georgeofhamilton]

Thank you so much!

[@trekm.7464]

The cheat sheet is much appreciated!!

[@plouviettheo5286]

Finally a french writer who watches Diane's videos ! I'm french too ! Wanna have a chat ?

[@johnsonabban]

I love this class, Diane. You are doing great work through this channel. I'm an addict of your content. I hope the narcotics control board don't find me guilty.

[@perymachado6374]

I don't have mamy memories of learning this in school (I know I did, but it's not super clear in my mind), but I do remember devouring Tom Clancy novels and analysing each sentence to see how it should be done. In Brazilian literature, we use Em dashes to indicate the start of a line of dialogue, though when an action beat proceeds it, we don't. And when a line of dialogue ends in an action beat, and then there is more dialogue, that second line of dialogue is not proceeded by a dash or anything else. So frustrating and confusing at times. "Whatever you do," she said in a voice filled with hope, "keep writing." The best line ever spoken.

[@darkengine5931]

James Joyce also favored the quotation dash. I always found it a bit constraining in the lack of ability to designate precisely where a quote begins and ends.

[@thatsagoodquestion5889]

This video is really helpful. I'm French and I am writing a novel in English, and honestly, I didn't really understand commas in dialogue and just tried to copy from other novels that I read, but now I understand everything! Thanks from France!

[@REJECTFALSEICONZ]

Nice! I'm currently learning French, it's very difficult right now, but I'll hopefully get better!

[@thatsagoodquestion5889]

@@REJECTFALSEICONZ aha I understand, compared to English, French has a lot of grammatical rules and such, but I'm sure you'll be able to better your French with time! I can only advise you to keep working and after some while it will get easier (although even for me, there are still some rules that weird me out, to be honest)

[@doryahdoryah8114]

Une raison particulière pour laquelle tu écris ton bouquin en anglais ?

[@REJECTFALSEICONZ]

@@thatsagoodquestion5889 Merci!

[@MynameisS_A]

@@doryahdoryah8114 c'est son choix?

[@zizzix08]

You had fun with this one didn't you? This was super helpful. Even though I know most of this I find myself constantly second guessing myself. So thank you!

[@DaveRoberts308]

This video is really well done. "While I appreciate unconventional punctuation from an artistic point of view, I can't say that I actually like it. Call me a traditionalist," I said.

[@_fitz5566]

I always get lost when stylizing/formatting my dialogue, and I've noticed a lot of repetitive structuring while revising. It's probably one of my biggest mental obstacles when writing. It's so easy to overthink and get wrong. Despite quite a lot of searching, I've never found guidance as detailed and as clearly presented. This has answered a lot of my questions and is a valuable lesson that will certainly help me with my craft. Another terrific video! Thank you!

[@samwallaceart288]

Read the page, then say it out loud as if you were retelling the story to a coworker or friend. Take note of how many dialogue tags you actually say out loud conversationally, and how many you naturally leave unsaid. Literature has a habit of spinning into word salad, so remind yourself that written story is the descendant of stories said out loud to a friend.

[@joshadams2174]

“Commas are little demon turds…” Brilliant.

[@abraxasnl]

As someone who just started writing his first fiction story, and with the hope this is one of those hobby-projects I will actually complete, I just wanted to come down into the comment section and say "thank you." Your videos have taught me a lot, and I feel much more confident now that this is something I can do. I'm well aware my first work will not be great. But at least it won't be as bad as it otherwise would have been. And I'll have learned a lot. So, thank you. Whatever you do, keep making these videos.

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Ron! I'm so glad to hear that my videos have helped you on your storytelling journey. I hope you'll take that confidence with you in continuing to write, revise, and take creative risks. Keep writing! :)

[@abraxasnl]

@@QuotidianWriter Thank you for your response, Diane! I was thrilled to see a new video from you yesterday, especially as it had been a while. I'm glad you're still motivated to keep providing these lessons. They're invaluable!

[@luukbenschop1718]

When I saw this video, I thought that I knew almost everything fairly well--I was pretty good at punctuation tests at school--but it turns out that I have been doing the interruption of dialogue with action beats (em-dashes; 10:03) wrong for years. I didn't expect to learn something on my day off, but that turned out wrong. Thanks, Diane! The quality of both the video and the script is as high-level as always. Take care!

[@paperboy1116]

Oh, this is going to be so helpful! My writing tends to have a lot of dialogue so keeping up with all the rules takes some time. This gives a really good list of things I need to check without memorizing!

[@redmecka304]

This video maybe 30 minutes long, but it took me a full day to properly digest and breakdown everything that was shown and told. This video was really helpful. Just as every other video you do.

[@gurjindersingh3843]

Watching your videos makes me miss my English teachers. I like how they would tell us stories from our literature textbook and explain the meaning of words and phrases we wouldn't understand at the time. If anybody makes a VR game set in an english classroom, send me a copy. I would love to relive those childhood memories.

[@artman2oo3]

“This is a great video,” he said, right before adding it to his Favorites.

[@ThanatosAngel7]

Yay! A new video!

[@noot4213]

This is a video I've wanted for the past 3 years. Dialogue is so damn hard for me to nail down. Thank you

[@user-uj7kd6mb5b]

Thank you Diane Callahan. This video is long and absorbing. Many tutorials are either complicated or display cheesy visual and verbal antics. Your visuals are significant and well done. Screenwriting is my study and Novel Writing is my Kryptonite. But now after watching this tutorial I actually began a Novel. 💔

[@DalCecilRuno]

First person out there explaining the weird use of the m dashes! Thank you! Thank you for verbalizing everything in this video and making it accessible. Finally I can edit and know what I’m doing! Thank you! Yes, I am excited.

[@anuragraj3893]

Your videos are very informative. Almost all of your videos have helped me find something new. I have been following other channels but none of them inspired to google concepts but every video on this channel has. Keep up the great work, you have earned a regular and loyal viewer.

[@savagetothebones1642]

I love your videos! They're so helpful and packed with essential knowledge for beginner writers like me. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and knowledge with us as always.

[@danagreen6518]

… outstanding, from a 70-yr-old guy trying to learn short story writing … thanks from the coast of maine …

[@QuotidianWriter]

Glad to hear it! Keep writing! :)

[@horence2360]

My background to being a writer is being a text based roleplayer for 5 years now, and I never realized how much of these things I used purely from Osmosis. I listen to this and fuck man it just makes perfect sense.

[@tonyaspencer3090]

I had zero idea how dialogue tags can affect characters speech. 😮 or how they speak. Thank you for this video. It’s been the most informative video I’ve watched.

[@lucinda_null]

Tysm for this! I always think I’ve learned everything and then I learn something new from your channel.

[@meganjohnstone3458]

You had me at "commas are little demon turds, but I have faith in you." XD

[@katevenhorst1723]

Another incredible video! Thank you, Diane 🥰

[@ellaillustrates9350]

I have no words to fully capture how invaluable this goldmine of a KZbin channel this is, Diane!

[@cannonfodder4376]

Most informative, I can certainly recognize good dialogue and punctuation from my years of reading. But always good to learn from an expert.

[@thethmooteresa]

This is such a good brain refresher ♡♡♡ I would listen to your voice for anything!!! ☆☆ fellow writers, let us keepp writing and mastering our craft!!

[@denysmarker]

Thanks for your super helpful videos on writing! They really help me write my stories!

This video is one of the most helpful things on the internet, thank you Diane!

[@joesmith41789]

Thank you Diane! This video showed up at the perfect time on suggestion. The cheat sheet helps. Love your videos, keep up the great work!

[@annamalistic4307]

"Your videos are the best!" said I.

[@alinalee91]

This was a great reminder of the basics, which I find useful from time to time. But the use of em dashes is new to me! Though now that I know what it's used for, I can remember instances of it in things I've read.

[@dramaticothello9091]

You make me wait for so long, yet its always worth it.

[@matthewkjames4498]

Thank you! I used to mess up the dialogue tag and do a period and quotation mark at the end and capitalize words like she said he said. It wasn't until I looked through my favorite books Wings - Bill Brittian, The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien and the Trumpet of the Swan - Edward Franscino, that I realized I was doing it wrong. And the saddest part is all the online "professional" editor companies I had wasted money on never once brought this to my attention and even made dialogue corrections and the manner which I was doing it, too.

[@3lissa333]

"Commas are little demon turds." This had me laughing! I love writing but I have always struggled with comma use. This helped me understand more. Thanks!

[@angelsparks923]

I've been reading a lot of articles about proper quotations these last few weeks, but still confuse them when I'm writing. Thank you for this.

[@chuckwieser7622]

I just want to say, I love your videos so much. I love the information and also just your setup, & style. They really are informative and a pleasure to watch. Thank you

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Chuck! Keep writing! :)

[@jdgameolorian2698]

I went in with an open mind, expecting mid-tier advice and pancaked motivational speech, but thankfully, I was very pleased with the video. In fact, I learned a lot from it and I’m forever thankful it exists. I’ll keep this precious channel close to my heart, thank you so much ❤

[@elmoadorjr]

wow! You don't know how much I needed this! Thanks so much!!!

[@highsun76]

Omg I was binging your content (again) because I watched all of your videos and now you dropped a new video and I feel so lucky :)

[@ThePauloFonseca]

Finaly someone took some time to break this down. Thank you very much.

[@hamothemagnif8529]

Such a fantastic video. Well done on all aspects. So good.

[@rahgc4444]

This video was a godsend. I often don't know what tags to use or action beats either.

[@johnsonabban]

I sat in an English class for 2 hrs, the tutor dragged on and on about how to use punctuations. I didn't get it. "This is just nonsense," I thought, bitting hard on the end of my blue pen cover. In Ghana(West Africa), English is like a frog one have to eat, alive. It's a hard nut every Ghanaian who aspire to be a novelist must chew with all manner of contoured faces. I have been greatly impacted by watching this video right in the comfort of my room - 170 miles away from Accra, the city capital. How? Because you made it simple to understand. All I need is to practice over and over again. I will certainly come back to this wonderful channel one day when I succeed at publishing my first novel. Until then, thank you. You just saved a drowning storyteller from the sea of confusion and procrastination

[@hivecv]

I love this video, and I love seeing and using interesting punctuation. In addition to taking down notes for myself, I want to share a creative choice I make in my own writing. Often, when I use quotation marks for emphasis/sarcasm/irony/rhetoric/what-have-you that land on a comma, I will leave the comma hanging outside the quotation marks. I do this intentionally to separate the indicated pause from whatever feeling I am trying to convey by using the emphasizing quotes. It's not something I expect to influence the reader's perception, much less for them to notice, but it always makes me happy when I can do something interesting yet unobtrusive Ex: "Last time I had your homemade 'raisins', I threw up!"

[@irene2958]

Thanks for everything 💝 You've helped me so much 😃

[@LeonardErickson]

Top shelf content! Excellent video. Thank you.

[@sitifaizah9908]

Millions thanks to you, Diane. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

[@elizabethchen2348]

The queen is back! Missed you, Diane, this was a great and informative video.

[@CRW567]

This tutorial is exactly what I needed. Thanks so much!

[@Namovaryar1980]

What a masterful video! I found I already knew a lot of the dialogue and punctuation rules. However, now I feel I do not only know them-I actually understand them. And then some! Thank you very much, this has been a huge help.

[@QuotidianWriter]

I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you for watching. Keep writing! :)

[@chadsimmons4496]

“This video cannot be appreciated with words,” he said. “I agree.” Continuing my clapping, as I replied.

[@tennyim]

Thank you so much for dedicating ur time for this video!🙏

[@transformationstudio6158]

This was so needed. Thanks!

[@chelpalingam644]

Thanks, Diane. Excellent video that puts all concepts succinctly. It is a great help even for those, like me, who spent several years in technical writing. Fiction writing is a different ball game.

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for your kind words! It can be difficult to switch between writing "modes," but having that background in technical writing will still bolster your fiction. Keep writing! :)

[@prof.toussaintosborne474]

This is a great video. It was very helpful and I hope that you do more on this topic.

[@boyboss3322]

I needed this, thank you!

[@AndySevern]

This is absolute gold!!! Thank you!

[@wilsogre]

Best video I've seen on this subject. Thank you for the hard work that obviously went into it.

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for your support and your kind words, Greg! I truly appreciate it. Keep writing! :)

[@santiagosatori]

Once again, another well done video. "I get it now." He nodded, appeasing Diane.

[@QuotidianWriter]

I AM APPEASED.

[@sejalb725]

THANK YOU I was just thinking about you yesterday!

[@GoldenDIY]

Thank you so much for this! It's exactly what I needed!

[@rodgilley-writer]

You make fantastic videos! I really like the (actually free, no strings attached) Dialogue Punctuation Cheat Sheet. I'm sure many new writers really appreciate that! I may have to make a tribute video about you! This was a very well done video, very informative and very entertaining, thank you for posting it!

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so glad that the video was helpful; I love providing free educational resources. Keep writing! :)

[@selftaughtkh]

I am from Cambodia in South East Asia. I am learning a ton from this. Thanks.

[@passionproject568]

I'm from Indonesia and I always wanted to write a novel in English. I learned this at school but I don't remember anymore. Thank you so much for making this video, God bless you and I wish you success on your youtube channel! ❤❤❤❤

[@imgrimbur]

i love you for this, there are not many guides about this, i was looking long time for something about secondary quotations, like when inside dialogue person repeats what others were saying : ,, something something , dark side ' something something "

[@edechamp1]

Thanks! I haven't been a student in 18 years and have to take highschool english 🙃. It's true when they say use it or lose it, I have no idea how to write anything anymore. Super helpful video. I appreciate it.

[@mrplatink]

You're back - YOU'RE BACK!

[@sector13studios]

Excellent video. Clear and concise. Thank you.

[@TKHaines]

Thank you for this video and the cheat sheet.

[@Ruylopez778]

Just wanted to add a general editing tip I've heard from Brandon Sanderson; you can use the 'find replace' function to see how often you're repeating the same word, such as, "said".

[@tyantisamuels9461]

This video is very thorough. It's very impressive. I love it!

[@Golgari213]

Definitely learned a couple of things I would have totally gotten incorrect. Thank you!

[@antoinettefreeman3951]

Thanks for the video and the cheat sheet that will help me a lot with my continued writing. 💯👍👏

[@andr01dm]

Thank you for details on the correct use of em, en, and ellipsis. :)

[@Bennythesupersnooper]

Such amazing help!! Thank you 🙏

[@jasonsomers8224]

Well, I had been treating diologue tags as separate sentences. That's gonna be annoying to go back and correct, better now than later though. Thanks for the video.

[@whiteetoile8416]

Thank you for this video. It was clear and easy to understand.

[@lustforlife8500]

Wow, very helpful! Thank U!

[@cerealspiller84]

All of your videos are like cheat codes for writing. Each one I've watched so far as helped me as a writer. Thank you so very much.

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you for watching and for your kind words! Keep writing! :)

[@bgtyhnmju7]

A great video, well explained. I needed this, thanks! Got me some work to do now.

[@srilankarelaxation5889]

This is really helpful thank you so much!

[@TheMusicscotty]

I send a lot of my Critique Partners to your webisodes because they so thoroughly detail topics. In my writing, this is one area I'm better at. More time into planning and pacing. But you e already done vids on that. :)

[@jjcakejj]

Thank you so much for posting this video! "The way Diane presented the material was clear and helpful," I said. :)

[@greeleywright4383]

This was very helpful.

[@mlbullbooks]

Great thorough video about wriitng dialogue :)

[@ajmalaika1287]

I've started using a single quote for dialogue as it's more common in the UK so now I'm torn. Plus air quotes are two fingers so why....*sigh* Apart from that THIS WAS GREAT AND MUCH NEEDED THANK YOU

[@renjuncita]

this is the best video to understand english grammar as someone that's not a native english speaker

[@LookNumber9]

Super useful. Thank you!

[@porche_withnobrake]

This is very helpful, thank you 💖

[@kuzingatia7962]

I was so shook when you moved on to the quizzes 😅 but they were fun. This lesson was so helpful, some of these I'm really good at while I suck at others, definitely Favoriting this one. And thank you again for chatting with me on my podcast! It was a lot of fun, and thanks for having me in this video, Diance!

[@QuotidianWriter]

Happy to hear it! I loved chatting with you, and your narration is so smooth. :)

[@LearnGermanwithKathrin]

Very helpful, thank you.

[@LisaFan135]

This is amazing, thank you so very much!

[@Mara.O.Garner]

Love your voice and videos!! It would be so awesome if you would do these videos every week. Would watch the heck out of it😇

[@JackMyersPhotography]

This video is a great help, thank you. In addition to this subject, I'm often curious about the best way to portray inner dialog and thoughts on the page. Combining conversation and inner dialog seems like it would have a best practice, too.

[@QuotidianWriter]

I'm so glad the video helped! Characters' thoughts definitely have their own best practices as well. I wrote this response to a question about that elsewhere, so I'll copy and paste it here for reference: Thoughts can be put in double quotation marks when they’re paired with a “she thought” type of tag. However, this is rarely done in modern publishing, and it can make dialogue confusing. Italics are another way of stylizing thoughts, and you don’t need to use the “she thought” tag in that instance. This method, too, is falling out of fashion, although I still see it often. What is favored these days is “deep point of view,” wherein the narrative itself (whether in third or first) is phrased as if it’s the character’s thought. This is also known as free indirect style. Here are examples of each format using the same text (please forgive my weird scenario): QUOTATION MARKS: She slunk against the wall. “What am I going to do?” she thought. Turning to her dog, she whispered, "We'll be okay." ITALICS: She slunk against the wall. _What am I going to do?_ Turning to her dog, she whispered, "We'll be okay." DEEP POV: She slunk against the wall. What was she going to do? Turning to her dog, she whispered, "We'll be okay." Editor Louise Harnby has a great article on the subject that includes more examples (see Method 4 for the free indirect style I mentioned as being my recommended way to format thoughts): www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/how-to-write-thoughts-in-fiction

[@JackMyersPhotography]

@@QuotidianWriter Thank you 🙏 for this excellent, and helpful answer. It’s much appreciated.

[@RachelParker-1977]

So helpful. Thank you, Diane.

[@QuotidianWriter]

Thank you so much for watching! Keep writing! :)

[@RachelParker-1977]

@@QuotidianWriter 📝🥰

[@JoaoPauloAraujo-nh2eh]

this video was very helpful, thanks for it

[@alwaysapirateroninace443]

So helpful! I finally discovered something I'd been doing wrong for so long, but could never find anything about it. Also, the first pictures with the books piled on the shelf is a completely, bad for your books, way of stacking books.

[@dan4606]

Thank you for explaining the difference between en and em dashes! I always thought they were interchangeable so I’m glad I’ve been using the right one lol. I do have a question regarding single quotes though. When I’m writing, I use single quotes around words in the narrative to indicate sarcasm because I feel the need to differentiate spoken dialogue from emphasized words in the narrative. For example: She was told about all the ‘drama’ despite this town clearly being anything but dead. Is it incorrect to use single quotes or would it count as a ‘style choice’? Anyways, great video. Definitely the best breakdown on dialogue I’ve come across!

[@QuotidianWriter]

I'm glad it was helpful! Chicago Style uses double quotation marks in those instances, but British English would use the single quotes there. The more important thing is consistency, so if you're self-publishing or posting on a blog, you can do whatever you like as long as it's consistent across the text. Keep writing! :)