My likes and dislikes as a reader

[Dountnothere]

I can read a bad grammar and my brain autocorrects from years of using MTL. However, formatting and syntax is where I draw the line. Because when there are no line breaks it makes me go cross eyed trying to read walls of texts. Your story might be great n’ all and have all the tags I like, but I won’t read it ‘cus of bad formatting.

Dialogue tags, dialogue quotes, or lack there of in both or one.​

I’m fine with single quotes since that’s a uk standard and it’s at least one is better than none. Or worse, the - at the beginning and nothing at the end to signal when they stop speaking.

I also dislike when people write the reply in the same paragraph of two ppl talking. But also don’t tell me who’s talking if there’s more than 2-3 people talking. Just do a line break it’s that simple! It seems so basic and I just want the bare minimum at least. If reading slop at least my slop is accessible/readable.

 

[Corty]

Sooo... You like reading like everyone else. Gotchu.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

I trialed a number of different ways to format and do dialogue. then I came up with what I use.

At first, I wanted to format all my text just like the paperbacks I had read. But really, no blank line between paragraphs.
I can understand in a regular novel, there;s paper to save and printing costs. But in the digital world? Why.
so the first thing I did was I'm having a blank line between paragraphs. Easier on my eyes, probablye asier on every reader's as well.

I gave up on what I call "inline" dialog and all the nitpicky rules.
Every line of dialogue, is a separate paragraph, no matter what. blank line between, too.
easy to read, easy to follow. There's no paper costs to preserve now.

 

[c37]

I trialed a number of different ways to format and do dialogue. then I came up with what I use.

At first, I wanted to format all my text just like the paperbacks I had read. But really, no blank line between paragraphs.
I can understand in a regular novel, there;s paper to save and printing costs. But in the digital world? Why.
so the first thing I did was I'm having a blank line between paragraphs. Easier on my eyes, probablye asier on every reader's as well.

I gave up on what I call "inline" dialog and all the nitpicky rules.
Every line of dialogue, is a separate paragraph, no matter what. blank line between, too.
easy to read, easy to follow. There's no paper costs to preserve now.

Add the speaker's action and dialogue tag before the blank line above the dialogue, and boom, it solves the problem.

 

[Eldoria]

I can read a bad grammar and my brain autocorrects from years of using MTL. However, formatting and syntax is where I draw the line. Because when there are no line breaks it makes me go cross eyed trying to read walls of texts. Your story might be great n’ all and have all the tags I like, but I won’t read it ‘cus of bad formatting.

Dialogue tags, dialogue quotes, or lack there of in both or one.​

I’m fine with single quotes since that’s a uk standard and it’s at least one is better than none. Or worse, the - at the beginning and nothing at the end to signal when they stop speaking.

I also dislike when people write the reply in the same paragraph of two ppl talking. But also don’t tell me who’s talking if there’s more than 2-3 people talking. Just do a line break it’s that simple! It seems so basic and I just want the bare minimum at least. If reading slop at least my slop is accessible/readable.

Dialogue tags are less aesthetically pleasing, but they're necessary for reader navigation.