HI Since You're A Fellow Writer [from What I've Read, Hah, WRITER PUN- Anyways], HOW DO YOU PROPERLY

HI since you're a fellow writer [from what i've read, hah, WRITER PUN- anyways], HOW DO YOU PROPERLY WRITE DIALOGUE TAGS. like the. "Hello," she picked up a coffee mug and took a sip, "my name is Kaley." or the "BACK OFF!" They screamed in unison. like... am i doing it right or 😭 this is something that always pesters me whenever i write cause i have no idea to ask google about it

HI THERE YES HELLO THSNK YOU FOR ACLNOWLEDGING ME!!!!!

i LOVE dialogue tags because you can do so much with them and they inherently have so much variety—but they can be difficult to get the hang of, especially cause there are a ton of TINY annoying grammatical rules that go with them

as the CEO of tiny annoying grammatical rules i am HERE to HELP

SO!

“Hello,” she picked up a coffee mug and took a sip, “my name is Kaley.”

this would be totally correct IF the “picked up a coffee mug and took a sip” was replaced with said or mumbled or barked or whatever, BUT you’ve replaced those possible dialogue tags with an action

a big mistake i see a LOT is writers treating actions like they’re interchangeable with dialogue tags, and, in turn, giving them the same punctuation when they’re used with a pause in dialogue, but they are NOT!!!!!!!!! the same thing

the action is separate from the speech—she didn’t say hello by picking up a mug that emitted the sound for her, she said hello AND picked up a mug, then continued with her sentence.

since closing the dialogue with a comma denotes that the following text is supposed to be a dialogue tag, you’d use em-dashes for actions interrupting the speech instead!

“Hello—” she picked up a coffee mug and took a sip, “—my name is Kaley.”

alternatively, you could include a dialogue tag and connect it to the action with a conjunction if you wanted!

“Hello,” she said as she picked up the coffee mug, “my name is Kaley.”

(i omitted the “took a sip” part from this example because she presumably can’t speak while taking a sip from her cup</3)

AND!

“BACK OFF!” They screamed in unison.

this one’s almost perfectly fine, but remember not to capitalize any words that come after dialogue unless the end of the dialogue ends the ENTIRE sentence. since “they screamed” is the tag for “BACK OFF!”, and thus continues the sentence, you would leave “they” lowercase.

this used to trip me up for a while because often times, you’ll have a piece of dialogue where the speaker’s sentence is over, but the actual entire sentence isn’t—and that’s what you have here, for example! in this scenario, you wouldn’t capitalize the dialogue tag.

“BACK OFF!” they screamed in unison.

you WOULD keep it capitalized if it was an action after the speech (in a new sentence)!

In unison, they screamed, “BACK OFF!” Then they both punched you in the face at the same time and you died. Or something.

and—side note—if this weren’t an exclamation mark, it would be a comma, not a period, even though it’s still the end of the speaker’s sentence! a period at the end of the dialogue ALWAYS ends the entire sentence, so if a dialogue tag is coming after it, the period must be replaced with a comma.

assuming “back off” is the entire statement said by the speakers, “Back off.” They said in unison. would be incorrect, while “Back off,” they said in unison. would be correct!

(exclamation marks, question marks, and other punctuation marks can basically function as both a period and a comma)

THATS ALL I GOT !!

trying to google punctuation rules is So Annoying BUT i hope i helped at least a bit!!!

i know i tend to talk in circles because i love talking about writing rules to an excruciating degree but i hope i got my points across and everything 😎

also i love your art💔

Tags

thank you so much! THIS CLEARED UP EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW i am SAVING THIS. i am going to USE THIS. 🙏 also TYYY 🥺🥺 i love writing too

“Fragments of a Dream.”

A TwoGaty Story

The sobs faded into the silence, and exhaustion took over. Two’s body, tired from the emotional toll, finally gave in to the weight of sleep. They drifted into the darkness, and in that darkness, there was a shift.

In the dream, it was different.

Two was standing in a familiar place—a field bathed in the soft glow of twilight. The air was gentle, not cold, but warm like a memory. And there, standing before them, was Gaty.

“Gaty…” The name spilled from Two’s lips, trembling, like it was a prayer.

She smiled at them. A smile they hadn't seen in so long. It was real—alive—and it made Two’s chest ache in ways they couldn’t describe.

Gaty stepped forward, and before Two could think, they reached out, pulling her into their arms. It felt like everything they had ever needed—the warmth, the comfort, the sense of belonging—was there. She was there.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Two felt whole again.

“I missed you so much…” Two whispered, their voice breaking as they held her close. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t protect you. I should have—”

But Gaty pulled away slightly, her smile still soft. Her eyes were gentle but sad.

“It’s okay, Two. I’m here now.”

For a moment, it felt like the world was finally right. Everything felt right. They were together again. The world beyond didn’t matter.

But then, just as quickly as the warmth had come, it began to fade. A dark shadow twisted around the edges of their dream, pulling everything away. The light dimmed, and Gaty’s smile wavered.

“Two, wake up.”

It wasn’t her voice anymore. It was something else. Something distant.

The world shattered. Time fractured.

Two’s eyes snapped open.

They were back in the hotel room. The soft sounds of Goiky outside drifted through the window. But it was silent here—empty.

Two’s breath was ragged as they shot up from the bed, the remnants of the dream still clinging to their mind like smoke. They scrambled to their feet, panic rising in their chest.

“Gaty?” Their voice was hoarse. “Gaty?”

They ran out of the room, heart pounding, mind reeling, as if by some miracle, the dream could be real again.

The kitchen. Maybe she was there. Maybe the dream hadn’t ended. Maybe—

But when Two entered the kitchen, it was empty.

The cold tiles beneath their feet didn’t feel like the warm embrace of the dream. The counters were barren. The air felt thick with nothing.

Two’s legs gave way beneath them. They dropped to their knees, tears rising in their eyes again, and the emptiness was suffocating.

Gaty wasn’t there. She never would be again.

“Why…” Two’s voice broke as they cried out, echoing the desperation of their heart. “Why can’t I hold on to you? Why did they take you from me?”

The weight of the nightmare hung heavy, a cruel reminder that even in their dreams, Gaty would slip away.

The silence of the kitchen felt like the final insult. Time had broken again. The pieces of the dream, the brief moment of peace, had scattered like fragile glass, leaving Two with nothing but the shards of memory.

Tags

tpot two tpot gaty tpot WHEN I GET YOU PUTS YOU IN A BLENDER RHAKJGLKJKGJKJ

20 notes View Post

imaginedmist

1 year ago

finally drew my lots oc!!

she's one of the flat hourglass sand art things,,,

Tags

malueslots love of the s*n lots oc

15 notes View Post

imaginedmist

3 months ago

GODD I LOVE HOW SILLY HE IS

@1tzt3n10-b1gbr0 @biblicallyaccuratefour @samuniverse108

Fourteen gijinka reveal time!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚

(Note: he actually has two eyes, his hair is just covering one of them)

@1tzt3n10-b1gbr0 @biblicallyaccuratefour @samuniverse108

I’ve written so many HCs about him but that’ll be for another post probably.

Tags

object show community xfohv fourteen xfohv fourteen bfdi THIS DESIGN IS SICK ARKHKARL

71 notes View Post

imaginedmist

1 year ago

Can you draw Puffball?

she's planning devious activities!!

Tags

tpot tpot puffball

10 notes View Post

imaginedmist

7 months ago

Habits are hard

Tags

i have never seen a post so relatable in my entire life NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND THIS GRAHH ITS SO HARD TO GET MY FRIENDS TO UNDERSTAND THE PURE STRUGGLE WE GO THROUGH

105 notes View Post

imaginedmist

2 months ago

hourfal image dump because i said so

Tags

divideddimensions sidereums terrarium

41 notes View Post

imaginedmist

1 year ago

can you draw nine blushing cause seven has the had on their face 😊

Asking for a friend 😳

im assuming you meant "has their hand on their face", so here !!

Tags

bfb bfb seven bfb nine

7 notes View Post

imaginedmist

1 year ago

A drawing of humanized Michael (left) and Sean (right) from Love of the S*n. The two are standing next to each other against a blank grey background. Michael is a brown-skinned South Asian person who’s tall & thin with green, gray, blue, yellow, and red hair tied back into a bouncy ponytail behind him. He wears a white turtleneck with long flowy sleeves, light pink jeans, & dark gray heeled boots. Michael holds a slightly annoyed expression, having his arms crossed as he stands closed off from the other person. Sean is dark-skinned East African person who’s tall & plus-sized, with short pink-ish brown curly hair. She wears a similarly colored hat adorned with white roman numerals (1-3), a salmon-colored monocle (over her right eye), a long overcoat the same color as the hat, a blue collared shirt (with gold arrow-shaped buttons), a orange sash, muted red pants, and dark red loafers. She holds a welcoming expression, waving her left hand in the air and laying her right hand on Michael’s back.

Wanted to draw base refs for my humanized designs of the main characters from MaluesLOTS/Love of the S*n!

The poses are pretty stiff since I’m a bit under the weather right now & everything is in flat colors so then I can colordrop off of them if needed! Designs may change in the future

(If Tumblr also destroys the quality of these too then check out the high-res on my Twitter!)

51 notes View Post

imaginedmist

1 month ago

Reblog to scare a BFDI fan