Formatting Dialogue, Scene Breaks, and Special Text Correctly

Dialogue and the special text types that surround it, internal thoughts, letters, texts, foreign words, emphasis, are some of the most frequently occurring elements in fiction, which means small formatting inconsistencies in how they're handled compound quickly across a manuscript. A reader won't consciously notice correctly formatted dialogue, but inconsistent punctuation, unclear attribution, or special characters that render incorrectly on some devices will pull a reader's attention away from the story.

This guide covers the conventions for dialogue, internal thought, embedded documents like letters and texts, foreign language text, and the special characters (quotation marks, dashes, ellipses) that come up constantly in fiction formatting.

Dialogue basics: quotation marks and paragraphing

Quotation mark style: in US English publishing, dialogue uses double quotation marks ("like this"), with single quotation marks reserved for quotes within quotes ('she said "yes" to me'). UK English publishing conventions sometimes use single quotation marks as the primary style, with double marks for nested quotes, the reverse of the US convention. Whichever convention you use, apply it consistently throughout the book; mixing styles mid-manuscript is a common error when content has been copied from different sources or edited by multiple people with different default settings.

Curly (typographic) quotes vs. straight quotes: published books use curly, or "typographic," quotation marks (with distinct opening and closing shapes) rather than the straight quotation marks that are the default in many text editors. Most word processors and formatting tools convert straight quotes to curly quotes automatically (sometimes called "smart quotes"), but manuscripts that have been through multiple programs, or that include text pasted from elsewhere, sometimes end up with a mix of straight and curly quotes that needs cleanup before final formatting.

New paragraph for each speaker: when dialogue switches from one speaker to another, start a new paragraph, even if the previous speaker's dialogue was very short. This is one of the most fundamental dialogue conventions and one that, when violated, makes it genuinely difficult for readers to follow who's speaking.

Action beats and paragraph breaks: when a different character performs an action (not just speaks) within what would otherwise be the same paragraph as another character's dialogue, convention is to start a new paragraph for that action, reinforcing the "new paragraph per character's turn" pattern even when dialogue isn't involved.

Dialogue tags and punctuation

Basic dialogue tag punctuation: dialogue tags ("he said," "she asked") are typically separated from the dialogue by a comma inside the closing quotation mark, with the tag in lower case unless it begins with a proper noun: "I'm leaving," she said. Not: "I'm leaving." She said. (which incorrectly punctuates the dialogue as a complete sentence followed by an unrelated fragment).

Question marks and exclamation points with tags: "Are you coming?" she asked. (the question mark replaces the comma, and "she asked" remains lowercase since it's still functioning as a tag for the preceding dialogue, not a new sentence).

Action beats are not dialogue tags: "I'm leaving." She grabbed her coat. (a period ends the dialogue as its own sentence, and the action beat is a separate sentence, correctly capitalized, describing what the character does, not how they spoke).

Avoiding tag overload: heavily adjective-laden or unusual dialogue tags ("she expostulated," "he ejaculated") have fallen out of favor in contemporary fiction in favor of simple tags ("said," "asked") combined with action beats and context to convey tone. This is a craft choice more than a formatting one, but it affects how much of your manuscript consists of dialogue tags vs. action beats, which in turn affects paragraph rhythm and formatting.

Interrupted dialogue and trailing off

Two common situations in dialogue have established punctuation conventions:

Interrupted speech: when a character's dialogue is cut off, by another character interrupting, by an external event, conventionally a dash is used at the point of interruption, placed inside the closing quotation mark: "I was just about to" "Don't," he said.

Trailing off or hesitation: when a character's dialogue trails off, hesitates, or is left incomplete by choice (not interruption), an ellipsis is conventionally used: "I don't know if" she paused. "Never mind."

Consistency in implementation: whichever characters you use for these (a dash character and an ellipsis character), use the same ones throughout. Some authors type three periods for an ellipsis; most professional typesetting converts this to a single ellipsis character (which has slightly different spacing than three separate periods) during formatting. Most formatting tools handle this conversion automatically, but it's worth checking that the result looks correct, particularly at line breaks, since an ellipsis at the end of a line can sometimes break awkwardly if not handled by tools that understand it as a single unit.

Internal thoughts

Representing a character's internal thoughts, as distinct from spoken dialogue or narration, has a few common conventions:

Italics for direct internal thought: a character's thoughts, rendered as if "heard" by the reader directly, are often italicized: She looked at the door. I have to get out of here. This is common in first-person and close third-person narration where there's a clear distinction between narration and a character's immediate, unfiltered thought.

No special formatting, integrated into narration: some books render internal thought as part of the regular narrative voice, without italics, particularly in close first-person narration where the entire narrative voice already represents the character's perspective, and a separate "thought" formatting would be redundant.

Consistency across a book and series: whichever approach you choose, apply it consistently. If thoughts are italicized in chapter one, they should be italicized (using the same criteria for what counts as a "thought" worth italicizing) throughout. Switching POV characters within a book sometimes leads to inconsistency if one POV's thoughts are italicized and another's aren't; deciding on a convention for the whole book (not per-character) avoids this.

Letters, texts, emails, and other embedded documents

Many books include text that represents a different "document" within the story, a letter a character writes, a text message exchange, a news article, a diary entry. These benefit from visual distinction from the surrounding narrative.

Common approaches:

• Italics for short embedded text: a brief text message or note might simply be italicized within the regular flow.
• Different formatting for longer embedded documents: a full letter or diary entry might use a different font (if your design includes a secondary font for this purpose), different margins (indented as a block), or both, visually signaling "this is a different kind of text" to the reader.
• Stylized presentation for texts/emails: some books format text message exchanges to visually resemble a phone's messaging interface (different alignment for different senders, for example), though this is a more elaborate design choice that needs careful ebook implementation to ensure it reflows acceptably across screen sizes.

Print vs. ebook considerations: an embedded document formatted with a secondary font and specific layout in print needs an EPUB equivalent that uses CSS to achieve a similar visual distinction while still reflowing appropriately. Overly elaborate layouts for embedded documents (precise positioning meant to look like a real letter) often need to be simplified for reflowable EPUB; see our EPUB formatting guide for the underlying reflow constraints.

Foreign words and italics

Italicizing foreign words: words or short phrases from a language other than the book's primary language are conventionally italicized on first use (and sometimes throughout, depending on house style and how integrated the word has become in context): She whispered, "je t'aime," before turning away.

When not to italicize: words that have become naturalized into the primary language (common loanwords) are typically not italicized. The line between "foreign word needing italics" and "naturalized loanword" shifts over time and can be a judgment call; style guides (like the Chicago Manual of Style, widely used in US publishing) provide guidance, but ultimately this is often an editorial decision based on your specific text and audience.

Extended passages in another language: longer passages (a character speaking entirely in another language for a paragraph or more) are sometimes italicized in full, sometimes presented in regular type with a contextual cue that signals the language shift to readers without relying on italics for an entire paragraph (since italics become harder to read in long passages).

Special characters: dashes, ellipses, and accents

Em dashes and en dashes: an em dash (a long dash, roughly the width of the letter "M") is used for interruptions in dialogue (as discussed above) and, in narration, to set off a parenthetical or an abrupt shift. An en dash (shorter than an em dash, roughly the width of the letter "N") is used differently, for ranges (pages 10 to 20) and some compound terms. Word processors and formatting tools typically convert two hyphens typed in sequence into the appropriate dash automatically; checking that this conversion has happened consistently (and that the correct dash, em or en, was used for each context) is part of a final formatting pass.

Ellipses: as discussed, a true ellipsis character (rather than three separate periods) has specific spacing built in. Most formatting tools convert "..." typed manually into the correct ellipsis character automatically.

Accented characters and special letters: names, foreign words, and certain stylistic choices may require accented characters (é, ñ, ü) or other special characters. These need to be properly encoded in your manuscript (most modern word processors and formatting tools handle this correctly by default using standard text encoding) and need to be included in any custom font's character set if you're using a font that might not include less-common accented characters, an issue more likely with display or decorative fonts than standard body text fonts.

Genre and POV-specific conventions

Multiple POV formatting: books that alternate point of view between chapters or sections sometimes use formatting cues (a chapter heading naming the POV character, different chapter heading styles per POV, or, less commonly, different fonts per POV) to help readers track whose perspective they're in. See our guide on chapter headings and section breaks for how this integrates with chapter-level design.

Dual-timeline formatting: books with dual timelines (a present-day storyline and a historical storyline, for example) often use distinct formatting cues for each timeline, a different chapter heading style, a date or location header, sometimes different typography for each timeline's chapters.

Genre conventions for emphasis: how heavily a genre relies on italics for emphasis, internal thought, and foreign words varies. Literary fiction sometimes uses italics sparingly and deliberately; some genre fiction uses italics more liberally for emphasis within dialogue and narration. Neither is wrong, but consistency within your own book matters more than matching any external convention exactly.

Common mistakes

• Mixing straight and curly quotation marks: usually from pasting text from different sources without running a consistency check.
• Inconsistent dash usage for interruptions: sometimes a hyphen, sometimes an em dash, for the same type of interruption.
• Three periods instead of an ellipsis character: typically harmless visually but can cause awkward line breaks in some contexts if not converted to a proper ellipsis.
• Inconsistent italics for internal thought: one POV character's thoughts are italicized, another's aren't, without narrative reason.
• New speaker, same paragraph: dialogue from two different characters in the same paragraph, which makes it genuinely hard for readers to track who's speaking.
• Foreign words italicized inconsistently: a word italicized on first use but not on later uses, or vice versa, without a clear pattern.
• Embedded documents that don't reflow well in ebook: an elaborate "letter" layout designed for print that becomes illegible or oddly spaced when reflowed on a phone screen.

How formatting tools help

Most formatting tools, including LiberScript, handle the mechanical conversions automatically: straight quotes to curly quotes, double hyphens to dashes, three periods to ellipsis characters, and consistent application of italics styling where you've marked text for emphasis. This removes most of the character-level cleanup that would otherwise be a tedious final pass.

What tools generally can't do automatically is catch craft-level inconsistencies, a POV character whose thoughts are sometimes italicized and sometimes not, or dialogue tags that don't match the punctuation conventions above. These benefit from a dedicated proofreading pass, ideally reading for these specific patterns rather than general content, since they're easy to miss when reading for story and easy to catch when reading specifically for formatting consistency. See our self-editing checklist for how this fits into a broader editing pass.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use single or double quotation marks for dialogue?

US English convention uses double quotation marks for dialogue, with single marks for quotes within quotes. UK English convention is often the reverse. Choose based on your target market's convention and apply it consistently throughout.

How do I format a character's thoughts if I don't want to use italics?

Many books integrate thoughts directly into the narrative voice without any special formatting, particularly in first-person or close third-person narration where the narrative voice already represents the character's perspective. This is a valid and common choice; italics for thought are a convention, not a requirement.

What's the difference between an em dash and a hyphen, and does it matter for ebooks?

A hyphen is used within compound words (well-known); an em dash is a longer mark used for interruptions and parenthetical asides. They're visually and functionally different, and using a hyphen where an em dash is conventional looks like a typo to readers. Most formatting tools convert appropriately if you type a recognizable pattern (like a double hyphen) for a dash.

Do special characters like curly quotes and em dashes work on all ebook platforms?

Yes, these are standard typographic characters supported by all major reading platforms and devices. The conversion from "typewriter" characters (straight quotes, double hyphens, three periods) to proper typographic characters (curly quotes, em dashes, ellipses) happens during formatting, before the file reaches any platform, so platform compatibility isn't a concern once the conversion has been applied correctly.

How should I format a text message exchange in my book?

Simple text exchanges can often be formatted with minimal special treatment, brief italicized lines or short paragraphs clearly attributed to each sender. More elaborate visual treatments (mimicking a phone interface) are possible but should be tested in ebook to confirm they reflow acceptably on smaller screens; simpler formatting is often more reliable across the full range of reading devices.

The bottom line

Dialogue and the special text types around it, internal thought, embedded documents, foreign words, and special characters, follow established conventions that experienced readers recognize, often without consciously noticing them. Getting these details right, and keeping them consistent throughout your manuscript, is part of what makes a self-published book read as professionally produced. Formatting tools handle the mechanical character conversions automatically; the consistency of craft-level choices (italics for thought, dialogue tag punctuation) benefits from a dedicated proofreading pass.

For the chapter-level structural elements that pair with these sentence-level conventions, see our guide on chapter headings and section breaks. To format your manuscript with automatic handling of quotation marks, dashes, and special characters, get started in LiberScript.