Punctuating Dialogue in Fiction (Online Course)

Looking to improve your novel's punctuation? This course can help!

Do you know how to use commas, periods, and quotation marks? With speech tags and action beats? What about the placement of question and exclamation marks, and single quotation marks? To make your dialogue sound more authentic, are you using em dashes and ellipses?

In this three-hour workshop, you'll learn the conventions so that punctuation errors don't take your readers out of the story or stifle your creativity. Instead of worrying about where to put the comma, you'll be able to focus on writing compelling dialogue that reveals motive and character, creates conflict, raises the stakes, sets the mood, and so on.

You'll also get tips on topics such as choosing verbs, using adverbs, and deleting unnecessary repetition in speech tags and action beats.

Course details

Winter 2023

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About the instructor

Shelley Egan is a professional editor and proofreader. Before starting her own business, she edited Hansard transcripts and taught ESL. She has a BA in English, an MEd in administrative leadership, and a publishing certificate from Ryerson University, as well as credentials in applied linguistics and teaching English to speakers of other languages. She has studied grammar and editing through the University of British Columbia, Ryerson and Queen’s Universities, Editors Canada, and ACES: The Society for Editing.

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