Or more precisely, a conversation in six sentences.
A pupil recently asked me about writing speech in stories.
“Do I need to put he said, she said after every sentence?” he asked.
“No.” I replied. “If you look at a story in a book, you’ll notice that they very rarely indicate who has spoken.”
“Really?” He picked up a book, read a few sentences. “Oh yes, I see what you mean!”
“There you go. You have to learn to trust the reader; they’re cleverer than beginner writers give them credit for. The reader can recognise who’s speaking when people are taking turns in a conversation.”
“So you only have to indicate the names at the start?”
“Well,” I said, “You might want to occasionally remind them who’s speaking.”
See Also
- Six Lessons from Music…
- Six Tips on Writing Speech
- Six Reasons why Maintaining a Blog will make You a Better Writer
- Six Little Masterpieces of Economy
- Six Useful Websites for Writers
- Six Ways to Stay Sane as a Writer
- Six Ways that Being Published Won’t Change Your Life
- Six Things to do When You’ve Finished a Story
- Six Tips on Writing First Drafts
- Six Tips on Narrative Voice
- Six Books Every Writer Should Read
- Six Tips on Submitting a Story
- Six Tips on Beating Writer’s Block
- Six Tips on Showing not Telling
- Six tips for Writing Character
Also, only ever use “he said” or “she said”, rather than “he gasped” or “she cried”, etc.
Good point, Martin!
Can you send this blog to John Scalzi, I love his work but the constant, x said, y said does get a little tiring…
Oooh! Not sure I would dare…