"InfraGreen;15031539" wrote:
@noxxims: I agree with everyone who said that the format should usually (possibly always) be the first, with one speaker's dialogue staying in the same paragraph (and always, ALWAYS starting a new line for someone else). However, I swear I've broken the rule before and did a line break before the second piece of whoever's dialogue. Not even for a long monologue. Just one sentence, description, new line, their other sentence. I usually mean it to get across the effect of a character breaking an awkward silence, or just taking a long breath, but I'll face it: it looks pretty messy.
I don't recommend it. Just saying that I ain't perfect. :p
I do think it is sometimes called for, especially in SimLit where we can have a screenshot in between the lines of dialogue.
I'll also sometimes insert an action in between two lines from one Sim, so when I do that, sometimes, the new line of dialogue from the same Sim will be on a second line...
I've seen some of the modernists (Joyce, Faulkner, Woolf) have different speakers on the same line. When the writing moves towards stream-of-consciousness or twisting conventions to present experience accurately, then anything that gets across the desired effect works!
