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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Simple. The current speaker is not done yet (but a new paragraph is called for).
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Then... just start a new paragraph. The fact that I did not yet encounter a closing quote signals to me that the same person is still speaking, even if his monologue is five paragraphs long and spans two pages.
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The opening quote at the beginning of the next paragraphs reminds you that it's still an ongoing quotation.
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I don't need (or actually, want) that reminder because....
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Otherwise, as Ripplinger mentioned, a closing quote and a new opening quote will often lead the reader to make the mistake of thinking that the first speaker has concluded and a different speaker has begun.
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...this practice actually
causes that mistake, at least for me, instead of preventing it, because I expect the dialog to go to the other speaker as soon as I see the opening quote.
I assume it is "illegal" to contain multiple paragraphs within two quotes, or it was, a long time ago?
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But to be perfectly honest, dialogue where one speaker continues over multiple paragraphs isn't all that common in most of today's popular fiction.
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I've only seen it where one speaker was explaining something to another, in the role of a narrator or a teacher or something like that; I've never seen it in "normal" conversations.
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Hence, I think, why many people think it's a "mistake" whenever they encounter it. I find it helpful, myself (once I was clued in to how it worked).
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Hm. To each his own then... but in my case, as said, this practice exactly causes me to make the mistake it tries to prevent.