-----Original Message-----
From: ffml-bounce@anifics.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@anifics.com] On Behalf Of
Bastet's Chosen
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 10:16 PM
To: whimsy
Cc: ffml@anifics.com
Subject: [FFML] All dialogue stories

I wrote a short story consisting entirely of dialogue once. 
For shorter pauses, commas work well, even if they aren't 
grammatically correct.  Elipses are good for longer pauses. 
A set of quotes with nothing in it, or just an ellipse ("" 
or ". . .") is good to indicate where one person stopped 
speaking and the other didn't say anything.  Two of those 
can indicate that both people were silent for a while.

The use of "..." is of course not a "real" standard used by
authors. As a matter of fact, none of the professional
authors use this, so obviously this is just for fanfic
writers.

I believe as writers, we should try to exert more effort in
staging our dialogue. I've read many fanfics where the 
authors have successfully staged a dialogue with many
speakers at a time.

Other authors use [ or { or some such notation in an effort
to distinguish speakers but I personally feel it's a cop
out.

Just my two cents -- DarkHorse




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