Thread: A plea to writers/editors
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Old 07-01-2020, 05:58 PM   #2
Hitch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 4691mls View Post
If you are going to write a back-and-forth conversation between characters that goes on for a couple of pages or more, please throw in an occasional name - such as "said Bob" or "Jane exclaimed" - so I can keep track of who's saying what.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I need a clue every now and then
Wait, in the books you read,they use quotation marks? DANG!

Spoiler:
Sorry, but if I see one more POS go through my shop, without quotation marks, dialogue tags and beats and am then be told it's "experimental fiction," I'm a-gunna barf.


I'm with you. If the speaking characters don't clearly have their own voices, then this is very problematic. It's a mistake that amateur writers make a lot.

Whereas you look at, say, Robert B Parker, he could have omitted any dialogue tags and you'd STILL have known whether it was Spenser or Hawk (or the ubiquitous and vexing Susan, who I always wished would get run over by a runaway bean truck).


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