Broken up dialog in single paragraph
I'm writing my first novel, and I'm using a style that seems fine to me, but I'm not positive I'm punctuating correctly.
I hate overusing dialog tags. I like the technique of sometimes avoiding them altogether by simply drawing attention to the speaker before/during/after the dialog.
Thomas reached into his pocket, cradling the stolen money in his hand. "I might be able to help you." This money would change everything for his father. He presented the wads of cash to the old man. "Here. Take this."
Now I'm quite sure this is punctuated correctly, but I'm wondering about the use of the period at the end of the first dialog line. Since it's not followed by a tag, "I might be able to help you." seems to me like it should end in a period like I've done here, not a comma. Am I right to think that?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/31399. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
You put a comma (even if a period is intended) when you are going to follow the quote mark with a tag or any other writing. You put a period if the end of the quote is also the end of the sentence.
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