Apparently A Lot Of People Get Dialogue Punctuation Wrong Despite Having An Otherwise Solid Grasp Of

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

being a creator is a lonely road whether you’re a gif maker, a writer, a VP…getting excited over something you did only to watch it flop is a hard pill to swallow because not everyone will be excited over it as you are. especially in fandoms. it’s having to constantly remind yourself that it brought you joy for five minutes before you shared it with the world.

a gentle reminder to be kind to yourself 🖤 if it makes you happy that’s all that matters.

“Oh,” They giggled, cheeks pink.

“Oh!” They gasped, hands to their mouth in horror.

“Oh,” they whined, gripping their hair in frustration.

“Oh,” they breathed, head back and lashes fluttering.

“Oh,” they mumbled, shifting awkwardly.

“Oh,” they deadpanned, arms crossed.

“Oh?” they asked, brow arched and smile bitter.

“Oh,” they chided with a smirk.

“Oh?” they asked, head tilted curiously.

“Oh!” they hissed, scrambling away.

“Oh,” they mumbled, rubbing their neck.

“Oh,” they uttered, eyes wide in awe.

“Oh,” they muttered with an ill-impressed frown.

“Oh!” They cried, throwing their arms around them.

“Oh,” they goaded, smiling mischievously.

“Oh,” they taunted, skipping backwards.

“Oh,” they snarked, hands on their hips.

“Oh,” they breathed, putting it all together.

“Oh,” they said softly, hugging themselves.

“Oh,” they whispered, holding back tears.

“Oh!” they gasped, ducking out of the way.

“Oh,” they uttered, and smacked their forehead.

“Oh,” they laughed, brows wiggling.

“Oh,” they tittered, batting their lashes.

“Oh,” they hissed, gritting their teeth.

"Oh."

Tag your dialogue.

I drew cats from stardew valley :D

*sobbing into my palms*

thinking of dad!nanami consoling his toddler. his baby girl on his lap, her cheeks so red and she’s sniffling while rubbing her eyes with her tiny hands. nanami kisses her forehead, continues to ask her what’s wrong, continues to soothe her worries away with lovely words…but she can’t speak yet so she babbles out her responses while he brushes the locks of her soft hair away from her face. he hums and nods his head, knuckles wiping away the tears as he cradles her for a hug, and you’re the only one who picked up on the fact that the reason why he can calm her down is because the sound of his deep voice comforts her and assures her that she’s safe when he’s around 😞😞😞😞😞😞