Splitting dialogue

[Writer61]

Thus it is of no surprise that they are flummoxed by the composition of a conversation.

Hence my decision to prioritise clarity.

 

[WittyUserName]

On my recently published story, Casual Wednesday, I received this comment:

I liked the story, but had a little trouble reading it. In a conversation, a change of paragraph generally indicates a change in person talking. Several times, I had to stop and reread in order to get enough context to determine which lady was speaking. It disturbed the flow of enjoying the story.

On checking the text, I realised the person was referring to breaks in dialogue where, although it was the same person speaking, I had started a new paragraph to indicate a pause. I was taught to indicate this by not closing the preceding paragraph with a double quote, which is what I had done. I posted a comment pointing this out.

This morning, I had another comment:

I wonder how many people (at least younger ones) are unaware of the convention about a paragraph with a missing " at the end.

How common is such ignorance? Did you know this convention? Do you avoid splitting dialogue to avoid this?

I try to avoid having a person say a lot at once, since that's generally not how conversations go. However, sometimes it does happen if they're telling a long story or explaining something. In that case, yes, I will use a new paragraph and leave the end parenthesis missing at the end. I've never had trouble understanding when reading it. I think you're fine. That's one person's comment. If you got a bunch like that, then I might consider changing things up.

 

[WittyUserName]

Ignorance in general being quite common it's safe to say that this aspect of ignorance is likewise quite common.

Especially with the under 40 set, lots of them are functionally illiterate.

Simple math isn't so simple for them.

Most of them literally have no idea where they are at any given time. They've ceded their senses of place and direction to the GPS in their car and on their phone.

Their language and vocabulary skills are abominable.

Thus it is of no surprise that they are flummoxed by the composition of a conversation.

Ignorance is pretty common, sure. Although as an under 40, I was quite aware of this rule. We still took English class in school, thank you.

 

[Britva415]

You don't even need an English class to learn this. All you have to do is read.