And quotes?

**Mad Lews** · 08-13-2007

OK I have a story up, which for large chunks, is a single character telling a story.
With me so far?
Now the question is, if the man speaks for a few paragraphs uninterrupted does the entire body of that speech remain within a single set of quotes or do I use new quotes each time he breaks into a new paragraph?
Style books seem unclear to me on this point and I'm unsure which is least confusing for the reader.
Opinions and reasoned discussion would be welcome though I'll try to avoid this formate in the future
Mad Lews

**gagged_Louise** · 08-13-2007

This is different in different languages, and perhaps also in different varieties of English (Brit/American English) Often you get to see a quotation mark at the opening of every new paragraph but endquote only at the very end, like this:

"You bastard,
"I never thought you'd deceive me like this, what a trickster you are!
"Have you been writing this for a long time?"

This is common in French too. But often it works fine to just put a " at the opening of the quote and another at the end, no matter how long the quoted statement is.

**Ruby** · 08-13-2007

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

**Rhabbi** · 08-13-2007

Goes with the opening quote for everyparagraph crowwd. this is what I learned way back when, and seems like the simplest way to me. Though I do recall seeing this type of thing set off with an additional indentation like this:
Jim settled in and began to tell his story,

blah blah blah
more blah
even more blah

I am not surwe if that is acceptable or not, but it is an alternative.

**Ruby** · 08-13-2007

Originally Posted by Rhabbi

Though I do recall seeing this type of thing set off with an additional indentation like this:
Jim settled in and began to tell his story,

blah blah blah
more blah
even more blah

I am not surwe if that is acceptable or not, but it is an alternative.

Many publishers tend to skip the additional indentation for printed books to keep the page numbers down.

Others will put the "story" within the story in italics.
For me, the italics are hard to read.

I like the idea of clearly kicking off that one character is going to be speaking for awhile.

**Austerus** · 08-13-2007

I personally prefer either the indent, the italics, or something along that line to unmatched opening quotes at the beginning of every paragraph. Maybe it's just the software engineer in me, but damn it all those opening quotes are going to throw a TON of syntax errors in the compiler

**Mad Lews** · 08-14-2007

Originally Posted by Austerus

I personally prefer either the indent, the italics, or something along that line to unmatched opening quotes at the beginning of every paragraph. Maybe it's just the software engineer in me, but damn it all those opening quotes are going to throw a TON of syntax errors in the compiler

I sorta feel the same, but there seems to be a consensus toward the unmatched quote version and when in Rome....

I guess I'll repair it along those lines and see if Rabbit will upload and updateed version.
Mad.

**tessa** · 08-14-2007

I read your story and didn't have any issues with the quote marks. Must have been the fantastic story that distracted me.

~huggles~

tessa

**Mad Lews** · 09-23-2007

Originally Posted by tessa

I read your story and didn't have any issues with the quote marks. Must have been the fantastic story that distracted me.

~huggles~

tessa

Naw your just sweet on Lews.
You should know he's easy tessa, so you don't have to give up your grammar for him.
But he appreciates it anyway
Yours
Mad

**tessa** · 10-01-2007

Since I don't have to give up my grammar...

Naw your just sweet on Lews.

Despite the quaintness of all things "Naw", it should still be held accountable to the rules and followed up with a comma. Another item to mention- the word in bold should be spelled in it's contraction form- "you're".

You should know he's easy tessa, so you don't have to give up your grammar for him.

There should be a comma after "easy". (And I do know that about Lews, by the way. It's what makes him so loveable. Besides, takes one easy to know one.)

But he appreciates it anyway

This sentence is missing the ending punctuation. Additionally, it's not the best idea to begin a sentence with the word 'but'. You can do much with 'but', however it's not the best thing with which to lead. And I would know.

Yours
Mad

If you are following the American English guidelines, then there should be some type of punctuation after "Yours", preferably a comma. If you are following the British version of the English language, then no marks are certainly acceptable. Me? I prefer the marks myself.

Well, what about that. It really is better to give than to receive.

**Mad Lews** · 10-01-2007

Originally Posted by tessa

Since I don't have to give up my grammar...

Despite the quaintness of all things "Naw", it should still be held accountable to the rules and followed up with a comma. Another item to mention- the word in bold should be spelled in it's contraction form- "you're".

There should be a comma after "easy". (And I do know that about Lews, by the way. It's what makes him so loveable. Besides, takes one easy to know one.)

This sentence is missing the ending punctuation. Additionally, it's not the best idea to begin a sentence with the word 'but'. You can do much with 'but', however it's not the best thing with which to lead. And I would know.

If you are following the American English guidelines, then there should be some type of punctuation after "Yours", preferably a comma. If you are following the British version of the English language, then no marks are certainly acceptable. Me? I prefer the marks myself.

Well, what about that. It really is better to give than to receive.

Oh Boy (no Mad, Oh Girl),
A grammar Nazi!! I dearly do love them, when I'm writing stories, but for posting they can be a bit annoying. I've been known to make grammar and punctuation fanatics write entire stories in dialog using colloquial accents of my choosing. How's your Cyrillic accent love? could you carry a story for 3000 words? Did you ever hear the one about the young Slovakian couple that meet in Bratislava during the flood of '05? I think they were trapped on the third floor of a hotel for two weeks. I'm sure you could write it, I might even let you slide at 80% dialog, but then I'd need to count words. Naw!
Yours,
Lews & Mad

ps Lews went and added the comma after your cause he's infatuated with you, Mad wants to be English when he grows up.

**tessa** · 10-09-2007