Simple Writing Rules

PROSE

Speech is written like this - the first letter of a new sentence is capitalised where the paragraph is indented. All punctuation within speech marks. Ordinarily, every person who speaks gets a new sentence. If someone speaks twice in the same sentence, their first word is capitalised, but not their second. Speech is seldom grammatically correct unless you’d be talking to someone likely to have excellent grammar. When and how to capitalise, depends on titles – Constable Smith would be a title, but not the constable.

SPEECH

“My name is Bob; I like mashed potatoes.”

“What a whiff,” she said.

“Never in a million years,” Tony said, “like I care.”

“Take the evidence to Constable Smith, the local constable.”

Fiction Writing Basics

Paragraphs

Text

Capitalisations

Speech