Every single beta out there has their grammar pet peeves, and I’m no different. There’s one particular faux pas that makes my bum twitch.
It is a simple word, but it is often misused because writers believe it is a past participle. That word is drug. It’s true that there are irregular verbs out there, but this is not one of them. The word drug has only one definition when used as a verb.
Drug (verb) – Administer a drug to (someone) in order to induce stupor or insensibility.
Simple, no? How about we look at the past participle of drag.
Dragged – past participle, past tense of drag (Verb) - Pull (someone or something) along forcefully, roughly, or with difficulty.
Let’s look at an example:
Incorrect: In a fit of rage, Jane hit Bob over the head and then drug his lifeless body into the woods.
Unless Jane is administering drugs to a lifeless body, then this definition doesn’t work. That means the correct version would be:
Correct: In a fit of rage, Jane hit Bob over the head and then dragged his lifeless body into the woods.
Got it? I hope so. If you value my sanity, then remember: just say no to drug! http://dlvr.it/1fYK1s
Contest Opens: May 14, 2012
Submissions Due: June 13, 2012
Voting: June 14-16th, 2012
Winners Announced: June 17th
What would have happened if Bella had allowed herself to give in to Jake? We’re looking for entries to give Jacob the happy ending he so richly deserved. Give them your stories or banner images of Jacob Black as a father to Bella’s children. Be creative! All they ask is that you give Jacob Black the happiness of sharing his life and children with Bella.
They are very excited to announce that the winning story selected as Tricky Raven’s Choice will receive the ever amazing Nikitajuice’s express permission to use her painting, ‘Puppy’ as the banner graphic for their story. Please see the contest rules as they apply to the winning entry.
Award banners will be given for First, Second and Third Places for both fan fiction and banner art. In addition, all artists who enter a banner will be asked to place it for adoption to the entrants after the winners are announced. The First Place story selected by public vote will have first pick of banners to adopt from the contest. Winning stories and banners will be promoted via twitter and facebook, as well as on the homepage of Tricky Raven.
Need a beta for your contest entry? Apply here!
Punctuating Non-Dialogue Tags
As I mentioned in parts one and two, the non-dialogue tag—or action beat—is not a part of the sentence that is being quoted.
There is no difference in punctuation when the action beat comes before or after the quote. Both the quote and the tag are capitalized and end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark:
Correct: I frowned. ”I don’t think I’ll be able to finish all of my homework on time.”
Incorrect: I frowned, ”I don’t think I’ll be able to finish all of my homework on time.”
Correct: “I’m scared.” She shivered.
Incorrect: “I’m scared,” she shivered.
There is, however, a difference when the action beat comes between two quotations.
Just like with the dialogue tag, the punctuation for an action beat when it comes between two quoted sentences depends on the quotation:
Action Beat Between Two Complete Sentences
If the two quotes are two complete and independent sentences, then the punctuation is like a normal action beat:
Both the quote and the tag will be capitalized and will end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Correct: “I’m scared.” Elena shivered. “Where are you going?”
Incorrect: “I’m scared,” Elena shivered, “where are you going?”
Incorrect: “I’m scared.” Elena shivered, “Where are you going?”
Correct: “You look ridiculous.” He laughed. “What on earth made you dress up like Peter Pan?”
Incorrect: “You look ridiculous,” he laughed. “What on earth made you dress up like Peter Pan?”
Action Beat in the Middle of a Complete Sentence
If the two quotes are actually one sentence, then we use either commas or em dashes to punctuate the dialogue.
The quoted sentence is: “I’m afraid of being left alone.”
The action beat that comes in the middle is: she looked down.
Punctuating Using Commas:
The punctuation is the same as that of a dialogue tag:
The first quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase and will end with a comma.
The second quote will be in lowercase and will end with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Correct: “I’m afraid,” she looked down, “of being left alone.”
Incorrect: “I’m afraid.” She looked down. “Of being left alone.”
Punctuating Using Em Dashes:
The first thing that you need to remember is that there are no spaces added before or after em dashes. The em dash can be represented in one of two ways (— or –), and the punctuation will be done as follows:
There will be no punctuation marks at the end of the first quote.
There will be em dashes before and after the action beat; they will be positioned outside the quotation marks.
There will be no spaces between the quotation marks, the words, or the em dashes.
Both the second quote and the action beat will be in lowercase; the first quote is capitalized.
Correct: “I’m afraid”—she looked down—“of being left alone.”
Correct: “I’m afraid of”—she looked down—“being left alone.”
Incorrect: “I’m afraid of—” She looked down. “—Being left alone.”
Punctuating and Formatting Dialogue
Now that we know the basics of how to punctuate dialogue when we have different tags, let’s see what happens when we have more than one line (when we actually have full dialogue).
Raw Dialogue
The first and most simple way to indicate that you are changing speakers is to go to a new paragraph.
Incorrect:
“Are you sure you want to go there?” “Of course.” “What if you can’t find your way back?” “I’ll manage.”
Correct:
“Are you sure you want to go there?”
“Of course.”
“What if you can’t find your way back?”
“I’ll manage.”
Writing everything in one paragraph is not only wrong, but it also confuses the reader.
Dialogue with Tags
Dialogue tags and action beats help the reader determine who is speaking; therefore, a dialogue tag or an action beat that includes the actions of the speaking character will always be in the same paragraph as that character’s words.
Dialogue Tag:
Incorrect:
I walked down the hallway when I heard somebody shout,
“Melanie, wait up.” I looked behind me and asked,
“What do you want, George?”
Correct:
I walked down the hallway when I heard somebody shout, “Melanie, wait up.”
I looked behind me and asked, “What do you want, George?”
Not only is it incorrect to end a paragraph with a comma, but placing the dialogue of the character in the same paragraph as the dialogue tag of another character creates a lot of confusion.
Remember: moving to a new paragraph means that you are changing the speaker. Make sure that your dialogue formatting reflects that.
Action Beat:
Incorrect:
“Brian, what time is it?” Brian looked up at John.
“It’s half past midnight, John.”
Correct:
“Brian, what time is it?”
Brian looked up at John. “It’s half past midnight, John.”
From the dialogue itself, we can say that the one asking the time is John and that the one answering is Brian. The action beat depicts Brian’s actions, so the correct placement for it would be in the paragraph that contains Brian’s answer.
Long Dialogue
But what if we need to have a paragraph break in the middle of one character’s speech?
Here is how it’s done:
“The Volturi. They are the law keepers of our world, three brothers who lead the vampire world. Their names are Marcus, Caius, and Aro. The three brothers are both very old and very powerful vampires. They make the rules and enforce them. They have ruled the vampire world for over two thousand years and keep a permanent residence in Italy.
“I was kept unconscious for the entire trip to Italy. All I was aware of was darkness and then the burning sensation of the change.”
At the end of the first paragraph there is no quotation mark as the speech is not complete. At the beginning of the new paragraph, there is a quotation mark to indicate that this is still speech from the same character. Once the character is done speaking, add the closing quotation marks.
Dialogue Tags
Unlike the action beat, the dialogue tag has another role to play in the writing of a conversation: it tells us not only who is speaking the words but also how the words are being spoken.
The first role is accomplished by the noun/pronoun in the dialogue tag. The second is accomplished by the verb used.
There is only one verb that is an exception to the second role. It does not tell us how the words are spoken; it only tells us that they were. That verb is “say”:
“I hate grammar,” he said.
The girl said, “I don’t want to go to the doctor.”
“We are late,” the man said.
All three tags in the examples above are dialogue tags.
There are tons of verbs that can be used in dialogue tags (ask, declare, exclaim, plead, shout, snap, spat, state, whisper, yell, etc.). To determine if a verb is a speech verb, look for its meaning in a dictionary. There are plenty of free online dictionaries out there. Personally, I use Oxford.
Punctuating Dialogue Tags
The dialogue tag is part of the same sentence as the quotation—the dialogue—that you write. As such, when punctuating your dialogue, you will place a comma between the dialogue tag and the quoted sentence.
There are three places where the dialogue tag can appear: before the dialogue, after the dialogue, or in the middle of two quotations. The location affects both the punctuation of the sentence and the capitalization of the words.
Regardless of the position of the dialogue tag, the appropriate punctuation at the end of the quotation will come before the closing quotation mark. Also, there will always be only one punctuation mark at the end of a sentence—the strongest. Never will you have a comma or a period immediately following a question mark or an exclamation mark:
Correct: “Where are you going?”
Incorrect: “Where are you going?.”
Incorrect: “Where are you going”?
Dialogue Tag Before the Quote
The dialogue tag will be capitalized and will end with a comma.
The quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Correct: Wesley said, “There is something odd about this book.”
Incorrect: Wesley said, “there is something odd about this book.”
Incorrect: Wesley said. “There is something odd about this book.”
Correct: She asked, “Where are you going?”
Incorrect: She asked, “where are you going”?
Incorrect: She asked. “Where are you going?”
Dialogue Tag After the Quote
The quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase and will end with a period.
Correct: “There is something odd about this book,” Wesley said.
Incorrect: “There is something odd about this book.” Wesley said.
Correct: “Where are you going?” she asked.
Incorrect: “Where are you going?” She asked.
Incorrect: “Where are you going,” she asked?
Even when your quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation mark, the dialogue tag that follows immediately after will be in lowercase.
Dialogue Tag Between Two Quotes
There are two options for a dialogue tag that comes between two quotes.
The Two Quotes are Two Complete and Independent Sentences:
The first quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase and will end with a period.
The second quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Correct: “I’m scared,” Elena said. “Where are you going?”
Incorrect: “I’m scared.” Elena said, “where are you going?”
Incorrect: “I’m scared,” Elena said, “where are you going”?
Correct: “There is something odd about this book,” he said. “I wonder where it came from.”
Incorrect: “There is something odd about this book.” He said, “I wonder where it came from.”
Incorrect: “There is something odd about this book,” he said, “I wonder where it came from.”
The reasoning behind this is that if you were to take out the dialogue tag and leave the sentences connected with a comma, you would create a comma splice.
The Two Quotes are Actually One Complete Sentence:
The first quote will be capitalized and will end with a comma.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase and will end with a comma.
The second quote will be in lowercase and will end with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Correct: “I’m afraid,” Elena said, “of being left alone.”
Incorrect: “I’m afraid,” Elena said. “Of being left alone.”
Correct: “There is something,” he said, “very odd about this book.”
Incorrect: “There is something.” He said, “Very odd about this book.”
To differentiate between the two cases, take out the dialogue tag and look at the dialogue itself. If what you are left with are two sentences that have a period between them, use the first method of punctuation. If what you are left with is one sentence, use the second method.
There are few things that are more frustrating for me than reading poorly punctuated dialogue. It can turn a wonderful story unreadable, and it draws attention to the author’s inexperience as a writer. This segment focuses on tags, action beats, ellipsis, and em dashes.
Tags
Tags are the sentences (long and short) that follow or precede a dialogue line. These sentences can be as short as two words, but it will always contain a verb and a noun, proper noun (character’s name), or pronoun (he, we, this, etc.).
Tags have one important role: to tell us who is speaking. This is achieved by the noun/proper noun/pronoun included in the tag.
There are two types of tags: action tags (also known as action beats) and dialogue tags.
The determination of the type used is done according to the verb that is used. If the verb is a speech-related verb, then it is a dialogue tag. If not, then you have a tag that is called an action beat.
The reason it is important to know the difference is because they are punctuated differently.
Action Beats
These tags are not part of the quoted sentence. They are stand-alone sentences that can be taken out of the dialogue and still be complete.
The verbs used in action beats can be either speech-related or non-speech related. Basically, any sentence can be used as an action beat as long as it’s complete. Here are a few examples of action beats next to dialogue lines:
Charlie paused at the door. “Goodbye.”
Julia was looking down at the table. “This is interesting.”
“You’re beautiful.” Stephan looked at Elena, marveling her figure.
Hermione pointed her wand at the feather. “Wingardium Leviosa!”
Ellipses and Em Dashes
Writing realistic dialogue means that you will want to include pauses, trail offs, and people cutting off other people’s speech. Using the correct punctuation to indicate each one is just as important as the dialogue tag or action beat that follows or precedes it.
Em Dash (— or –)
The em dash is the longest of the three dashes that exist in the English language (the other two are a hyphen and an en dash). It is used to show an interruption in the flow of the sentence.
The em dash can be used when there is an action beat interrupting a quotation. Another use of the em dash in dialogue is to indicate speech that has been cut off.
There is a slight difference in the punctuation of speech being cut off between a dialogue tag and an action beat.
A Dialogue Tag:
The quote will end with an em dash.
There will be no space before or after the em dash.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase.
Correct:
“I didn’t think that—” he began to say.
“You never think!” she accused.
Incorrect:
“I didn’t think that — ” He began to say.
“You never think!” she accused.
An Action Beat:
The quote will end with an em dash.
There will be no space before or after the em dash.
The action tag will be capitalized.
Correct:
“I didn’t think that—” He took a step toward her.
“You never think!” She glared at him.
Incorrect:
“I didn’t think that”—he took a step toward her.
“You never think!” She glared at him.
Ellipsis (…)
In dialogue, the ellipsis (that’s how these: … are called) will be used to indicate trailing off, pausing, or stuttering. The ellipsis—like the em dash—does not have an added space before or after it, and it consists of only three dots.
Correct: “The ship…oh God…It’s sinking!”
Incorrect: “The ship, oh God, it’s sinking!”
Incorrect: “The ship, oh God. It’s sinking!”
Correct: “I…I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”
Incorrect: “I …I don’t…. I don’t know what to say.”
Incorrect: “I, I don’t, I don’t know what to say.”
When using ellipses in your dialogue, there is a slight difference in the punctuation between a dialogue tag and an action beat.
A Dialogue Tag:
The quote will end with a comma.
There will be no spaces before or after the ellipsis.
The dialogue tag will be in lowercase.
Correct: “I didn’t see…,” he trailed off.
Incorrect: “I didn’t see…” he trailed off.
Correct: “I wonder…,” he said. “Do you have any duct tape?”
Incorrect: “I wonder…” he said. “Do you have any duct tape?”
An Action Beat:
The quote will end with the ellipsis or with a question mark or exclamation mark.
There will be no spaces before or after the ellipsis.
The action tag will be capitalized.
Correct: “I didn’t see…” He hung his head in shame.
Incorrect: “I didn’t see….” He hung his head in shame.
Correct: “Is he going to…?” He smirked and shook his head. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”
Incorrect: “Is he going to …?” He smirked and shook his head. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”
Mixing Ellipses with Em Dashes
This is quite an advanced tip, so don’t be apprehensive if this doesn’t make sense from the first read.
When it comes to stuttering, you might find yourself using both ellipses and em dashes. It’s perfectly fine, and sometimes even preferable. The key is to do it right.
When the speaker stutters over one word, place an em dash between the repetitions of that word. When the speaker stutters over two words, place an ellipsis between the repetitions.
Correct: “I—I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”
Incorrect: “I—I don’t—I don’t know what to say.”
Incorrect: “I…I don’t—I don’t know what to say.”
Correct: “M—my arm…I—I think it is b—broken.”
Incorrect: “M…my arm. I…I think it is b…broken.”
Incorrect: “M, my arm. I, I think it is b, broken.”
Next week we will continue with punctuating dialogue tags! http://dlvr.it/1YHQyj
Contest Opens: June 1st Submissions Due: August 1st Voting: August 5th-12th Winners Announced: August 15th Have you ever dreamed of Jasper as a sexy RAF fighter in WWII? Wanted to see Carlisle sweating away as a French Leigonnaire in Tripoli? Hungered to see Navy Seal Emmett in a wet suit? Or longed to have Marine Edward show you his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo? Inspired by a need to drool over Edward in a military uniform, and the upcoming American holiday season, they proudly bring you the “Show Me Your Patriotism” contest. They want to hear about the heroes in uniform and all they do to serve their country. Anonymous contest, 3,000-15,000 words, AH only Find out more! Need a beta for your contest entry? Apply here! 
http://dlvr.it/1XPYpj
Banner Contest Opens: May 13th
Banner Submissions Due: June 3rd
One Shot Contest Opens: June 10th
One Shot Submissions Due: July 1st
Voting: July 5th-12th
Winners Announced: July 29th
The process by which most story banners are created is almost always the same: a writer comes up with a story idea and starts writing. Eventually, the writer may want a graphic to represent that story, so a graphic artist is sought out to turn that story idea into a beautiful banner.
But what if that process was reversed? What if graphic artists created a bunch of banners then challenged others to write one-shots based on those creations?
They present to you The Pick a Pic Challenge: 2012.
Graphic Artists, your challenge is to create a banner for a story that doesn’t yet exist. Writers, your challenge is to base a submission on one of those banners.
Must be 18+, Collaborations welcome, Anonymous contest
Need a beta for your contest entry? Apply here!
Contest Now Open
Submissions Due: May 25th
Voting: May 26th-June 15th
Winners Announced: June 29th
The rules are simple: pick a GIF and write a fic based on it. There are plenty to choose from, all made by JadaPattinson.
2,500-12,500 words, Anonymous contest, Must be beta’d
Need a beta for your contest entry? Apply here!
“A Little Magic” by GeekChic12
After four long years, Bella finally gets what she’s been missing, but it’s not enough. She needs more. Will she find it in the most unlikely of places? They say when you’re not looking, that’s when love finds you. AH, Rated M for l & l. ExB
Sign Up’s Open: May 1st
Sign Up’s Close: May 31st
Submissions Due: July 1st
Teaser Banners Due: July 15th
Donation Deadline: July 3rd
Compilation sent out: July 4th
Fandom4Vets is a fandom charity to support the American troops who risk their lives for America every day. When they come home, they are never the same. Many go through Post Tramatic Stress Disorder, suicidal thoughts, divorce, and many other very tough things. The Pets for Vets program is dedicated to supporting veterans and providing a second chance for shelter pets by rescuing, training and pairing them with America’s veterans who could benefit from a companion animal. Medical studies have shown that companion animals significantly improve mental and physical health, including reducing stress, depression and anxiety, symptoms experienced by many serving in the military.
Impassionate Magic and Tricky Raven have partnered together to form Fandom4Vets. Through this fandom, authors and artists are able to use their skills to help out those they have never met. Those who donate their money or their time/skills will recieve a compilation of all the submissions. All monies collected will go straight to PetsForVets to aid them in rehabilitating animals and providing them to the veterans in need. For more information or if you know a veteran in need, please visit Pets For Vets.
Won’t you join us in supporting those who serve you? They willingly offer their own lives to protect the lives of people whom they have never met.
Need a beta for your compilation entry? Apply here!
