Ticky Questions

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  • Ticky Questions

    A writer who has done the major workshops is mentoring me. Some of the things this person nails me on seem of tiny importance. So, experienced people, please tell me:

    1. One or two spaces after sentence

    2. CONT'D, cont'd, or nothing if same speaker continues dialogue after action.

    3. Titles of books, magazines, etc., and songs in " " or CAPS

    4. Age always given or only for main characters or when it matters.

    5. Cindy (19) petite ... or Cindy, (19), petite...

    6. To show interruption of speech -- at end of dialogue being interrupted. Does the person interrupting have -- at the beginning of theirs?

    7. Should each scene end with an action or is it OK to end with dialogue?

  • #2
    1) Doesn't matter. But it's usually two.
    2) The current trend is no CONT'D after continuing dialogue.
    3) Titles should either be parenthetical or italicized. That is just proper grammar.
    4) Age should always be given to main characters. It is your choice whether to give supporting character ages. Might as well make it easy and be consistent and give all the characters ages.
    5) Either way is fine.
    6) No. Interrupting dialogue should not have ----.
    7) Does not matter. Ideally a scene should end with a punch or with profundity, which can be shown through either action or dialogue. Either way is okay.

    Comment


    • #3
      "Ticky?"

      Is there really a rule about not ending a scene with dialogue? I never heard of that. Seems silly to pad a scene, to add some action or description the story doesn't need, on account of some stupid rule.

      Comment


      • #4
        Well your person is editing. You will probably write more correct pages because of it. I hope you're getting (good) story advice too though.

        1. Two spaces after sentences is preferred. One is less standard but also acceptable as long as you are consistent and choose one or the other.

        2. No cont'd if the same speaker continues dialogue after action. It used to be you put in cont'd but that is out of vogue. No one's going to string you up for using cont'd though.

        3. It doesn't matter whether you choose caps or quotation marks for titles, as long as whichever you go with, you are consistent with. The old rule was caps but that's about cuing the techs and nobody cues techs anymore in scripts and caps tend to be jarring.

        4. Age is not given for every single role. Some idea with main characters is good. It does not have to be specific, it can be a range, but it will make a difference if your protagonist is in his 60's and readers are thinking 20's because you did not tell them and it's not clear to them from context.

        5. Cindy, (19), petite tends to be preferred -- the commas mean "(19)" is an oh by the way not an integral and main sentence part. Without the commas the meaning is "(19)" is not an oh by the way it is integral. This is a preference thing, though some people will argue you are playing fast and loose with puntuation if you leave the commas out. (Those people generally listened a little too hard to their first grade teacher and haven't recovered yet.)

        6. The character interrupting, to be perfectly correct, does have -- at the beginning of the interrupting dialogue. Writers do not do use this across the board and no one will throw your script across the room if you don't use it. Also the m-dash tends to detract from the visual impression of true interruption. I am weird about text visually mimicking action and don't do use this often unless it serves a purpose in that manner.

        7. Each scene does not have to end with an action. To automtaically place an action at the end of scenes arbitrarily based on some "rule" would limit your ability to utilize the film medium through choosing to use or cut off dialogue and action.

        The key word there is choosing. Often action at the end of a scene provides scene closure. Know why you are ending on action or dialogue, don't just arbitrarily drop off the end of the scene, and you are fine.

        Comment


        • #5
          Dialogue

          Hey Crash why not --- to show cut off dialogue? And if not that then how? Thanks.

          Comment


          • #6
            Personally, to show cut-off dialogue, I end the interrupted's line with ... and also start the interrupter's the same way.

            For example:

            JOE
            Why are you constantly...

            HOLLY
            ...Interrupting you?

            As long as the dialogue makes sense, this should be self-explanatory and fluid to a reader.

            Just the way I do it. Others may have a better method.

            Good Luck!

            Comment


            • #7
              ...

              I use dashes not - whatever these things (...) are called.

              JACK
              Shut the -

              JOHN
              - Dont swear in front of me.

              Shows more white space, and it looks cleaner (to me at least) There isn't a problem either way though.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: ...

                dashes lend a tone of immediacy and in my opinion work a little better for quick interruptions.

                a dash before the next dialogue isn't really necessary because it's implied that the next dialogue is an interruption. but it does work if you have a couple of people talking over one another:

                JOHN
                Look, the reason -

                JACK
                - screw the reason, man I -

                MARY
                - no screw you both because -

                HARRY
                - I don't wanna hear it, guys -

                BILL
                ALL OF YOU SHUT THE F*CK UP.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: ...

                  What about Ricky "Ticky" Tavi questions?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: ...

                    Thanks guys. I had a feeling most of that stuff was outdated or simply anal.

                    ... = ellipsis and indicates a change in thought , omitted words, or incomplete thought (trailing off)

                    I always thought
                    -- = interrupted
                    ... = trails off

                    And I think -- at the end shows interruption well enough without having to say "hey, oh yeah, remember this guy is interrupting that last guy, just in case you dear reader forgot as your eyes traveled back to the left.

                    I agree with GiG that the less used and still clear makes for a more attractive reading.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Ticky...

                      At the end of the day, folks, none of this stuff really matters. What's in or out of "vogue" with the readers, etc. As long as you use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and write in any "accepted" screenplay format, you'll do just fine. At some point, you, as writers, will decide which of these noodly little formatting things you personally prefer and you will stick with them.

                      What matters is what's on the page -- and I'm talking about the real stuff. Is the script any good? Trust me, I've been doing this for ten years and have even managed to make quite a nice little living at it and what I've learned in that time boils down to is this:

                      Every week you're going to hear about some new trend spreading among readers -- many of whom are merely disgruntled screenwriters in the first palce. If you have a great story with compelling characters an audience can care about and get behind, you've done your jobs. No one is going to throw your script out because of "Continueds" at the bottom of the page or because you choose to include "cont'd" for continuing character dialogue (or not), or whether you use CUT TO: or two full empty spaces before a slugline instead of one.

                      Write the best movie you can and everything else will take care of itself.

                      Comment

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