Adding Dialogue in Your Gothic Short Story

Showing vs. Telling

More engaging for the reader

Short stories typically have dialogue (it is expected)

Dialogue is one of the gothic elements

What is dialogue?

You do not have to punctuate

punctuate however you want there are no rules

Use quotation marks before and after the words the speaker says.

Start a new paragraph every time someone new is talking

Put them all together no matter who is talking

Hide them in a larger paragraph so no one will notice

You should never use direct quotes in a story

You do not have to punctuate

punctuate however you want there are no rules

Use quotation marks before and after the quote.

"This is the most fun day of my life Jackie screamed in excitement after riding the tallest rollercoaster."

"This is the most fun day of my life Jackie screamed." in excitement after riding the tallest rollercoaster.

"This is the most fun day of my life," Jackie screamed in excitement after riding the tallest rollercoaster.

This is the most fun day of my life Jackie screamed in excitement after riding the tallest rollercoaster.

"Nicole whispered to her friend Let's hide in the tree. They will never find us there."

Nicole whispered to her friend, "Let's hide in the tree. They will never find us there."

Nicole whispered to her friend, "Let's hide in the tree." They will never find us there.

none of these