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Q&A Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph?

I am in the middle of editing a book where I'm adding this technique, so I endorse it whole-heartedly. :) My two rules are: Don't confuse the reader. Make sure that no matter what, it's clear who...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:14Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6980
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:39:44Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6980
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:39:44Z (about 5 years ago)
I am in the middle of editing a book where I'm _adding_ this technique, so I endorse it whole-heartedly. :) My two rules are:

1. Don't confuse the reader. Make sure that no matter what, it's clear who is speaking. This applies to narration, dialogue tags, action tags, and lack thereof of all of them.
2. A new speaker gets a new paragraph, regardless of where the dialogue starts in the paragraph. 

Your examples follow both these rules, and I quite like them. There's no reason to start Jill's dialogue on its own line in the middle of a narrative paragraph when it's perfectly clear she's the only one speaking. And since she continues to speak without anyone else interrupting her, the second line of dialogue still doesn't need a new paragraph.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-01-04T20:28:34Z (almost 12 years ago)
Original score: 15