Formatting monologs

[Guru Coyote]

Ok, formating dialog has some easy rules: Everything one person says is in one paragraph, togheter with their body language and other actions. A new paragraph usually signals a change of speaker.

So, now, in one of my current projects, I am writing out several 'monologs,' each speaker going on for more than what comfortably fits into one paragraph.

How would I best format something like that? logically, these monotogs are narratives of their own, with distinct units, pauses, etc.
I'd definetly like to break up the monolog into several paragraphs, but that felt confusing... there was no change of speaker.

Quick example:

"Hi!"

"My name is Adam and I'm here to tell you about Eve."

The paragraph break here is to indicate that the speaker was deliberately making a pause. Ok, I could just write "he paused," but for a good reason, I want to avoid injecting the narator in that way.

One thing I've see done was to do it this way:

"Hi!

"My name is Adam and I'm here to tell you about Eve."

That is, by omiting the closing quotation mark after the first line... indicating that the speaker has not finished... Is that a valid way? It feel a bit 'off' to me, to not balance quotation marks.

Any suggestings?

 

[CupofJoe]

The omitted/missing ' " ' was how I was taught to continue speech from one para to the next...

 

[advait98]

Yeah, that's a fine way. I've seen it a lot, and no outrage followed. So that would be the best way to do it, in my opinion.

I mean if you look at it, it kinda makes sense, doesn't it?

 

[danr62]

I've mostly seen it done like this:

"This is the story of how I...blah blah bah. Lots of stuff here. Normal paragraph size and such.

"Continuing with a new paragraph...blah blah blah.

"Still another paragraph."

Notice the missing quotes at the end of the first two paragraphs.

The only time I remember seeing this done for more than a few paragraphs was in Prince Caspien. I don't think there were any tags or actions in the middle of it. If I remember, it was basically narriative with a leading quote for each paragraph to indicate that he was still telling his story.

It's been a long time since I read that book though, so I could be wrong about the no tags and no actions part.

 

[Guru Coyote]

Ok, very cool, we seem to have consensus on this. Omitting the closing quote and beginning the next paragrapgh with one is it then.

Thanks folks, that helps me a lot!

 

[wordwalker]

Those lopsided quotes are the proper format, if the dialog goes straight from one paragraph to the next. And, something like

"Hi!" he said.
"My name is Adam...

looks way too much like the second paragraph is a second speaker starting. But there is another good option: a paragraph between them that has all the nondialog points.

"Hi!"
He said it with a grin.
"My name is Adam...

(This works best if the details really imply it's the same person on both sides of the pause, of course.)

 

[danr62]

Those lopsided quotes are the proper format, if the dialog goes straight from one paragraph to the next. And, something like



looks way too much like the second paragraph is a second speaker starting. But there is another good option: a paragraph between them that has all the nondialog points.



(This works best if the details really imply it's the same person on both sides of the pause, of course.)

Hmm, with your example I would assume it was someone else talking, and then would do a double take trying to figure out if it was someone else or not.

 

[SineNomine]

This is one of the main functions of dialogue tags. Yes, the primary use for them is identifying the speaker, but another very important use for them is to add beats to what is being said.

"Hi!", he said, "My name is Adam and I'm here to tell you about Eve."

Even though you aren't actually indicating a pause in his speaking grammatically, the "he said" part naturally creates a pause in the dialogue as people read it. Readers don't even really "see" the beat in writing, their brain just adds in that small gap.

If you need to keep going for true, legitimate paragraphs it is usually as simple as just throwing in an action in between paragraphs so you can close the quote and start a new one. Have the character pace or another very basic activity or have another character react subtly to what is being said. You can't do this forever, but in general if it is getting distracting then the monologue is probably too long anyway.

 

[Guru Coyote]

This is one of the main functions of dialogue tags. Yes, the primary use for them is identifying the speaker, but another very important use for them is to add beats to what is being said.

"Hi!", he said, "My name is Adam and I'm here to tell you about Eve."

Even though you aren't actually indicating a pause in his speaking grammatically, the "he said" part naturally creates a pause in the dialogue as people read it. Readers don't even really "see" the beat in writing, their brain just adds in that small gap.

If you need to keep going for true, legitimate paragraphs it is usually as simple as just throwing in an action in between paragraphs so you can close the quote and start a new one. Have the character pace or another very basic activity or have another character react subtly to what is being said. You can't do this forever, but in general if it is getting distracting then the monologue is probably too long anyway.

Good points!

In this particular case, the 'monolog' is one person at a time on stage, doing stand-up comedy at an Open Mic. Admitted, that's a very special case. I went with the unbalanced quotes for this.