Over the years, I have searched far and wide for a comprehensive resource that covers basic and advanced dialogue mechanics all in one place. When do you use periods versus commas? When do you start a new paragraph? What if someone interrupts someone else?
While there are certainly conventions for these situations, they’re not comprehensively covered in typical grammar books and resources.
Thus, I was very excited to draw together many different resources and create a course on dialogue punctuation, paragraphing, and more. Best of all, it is available for free via Reedsy Learning.
You can sign up for this course on dialogue mechanics here. Once you sign up, you will receive a ~750-word email each day for 10 days. Each email covers different elements of dialogue mechanics. If you don’t see the emails, try searching your inbox for “learning@reedsy.com,” as sometimes automated emails are filtered in strange ways.
I know mechanics issues sometimes make writers snore, but I had a lot of fun writing these lessons. Plus, I got to use examples from some of my favorite writers: Rachel Lynn Solomon, Courtney Summers, and Diana Gabaldon. To no one’s surprise, most of the examples I made up are about dogs.
I hope you find the course helpful! Let me know if you have any geeky dialogue questions after taking it.
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