Hi Mad,

If one person is speaking, telling a story, giving a lecture, etc. for a number of paragraphs in a row, then here's how Penguin publishing does it.

Open the first paragraph with quotation marks

"blah, blah, blah

Do not put a closing set of quotation marks at the end of the paragraph, but do indent (or skip a line) and put another opening set on each paragraph that continues. Use a closing set of quotation marks to end the paragraphs and help the reader with a close. Within the text, if the story teller is quoting someone else, use ' marks. Like this:

"blah, blah, blah

"more blah, blah, blah

"even more blah, blah, blah

"lots of story telling, blah, blah, blah -- with a singe 'like this,' she said -- within the big quote

"and finally wrapping up," he said with a smile.

For an example, check out Anne Rice's The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, in the section where Prince Alexi tells his story to Beauty.

My recommendation, be consistent throughout the story. If you are planning on submitting it to a publishing house, you may want to check their style guides first.

To your success,

Ruby