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How to quote a large block of text

 
 
Reply Fri 11 Nov, 2022 09:00 am
In the text that I am currently working on, I have a dialogue where one of participants is describing the other in considerable detail. It goes something like this
"Your name is John Smith. You are 24 years old. You were born on ....
You have a doctorate from Yale. You like Sushi"
The description that is given is quite detailed and I have broken it up into two paragraphs. My question - how should I quote this text? At present I am using quotes that wrap the entire description block - the two paragraphs. Grammar checkers
 
jespah
 
  3  
Reply Fri 11 Nov, 2022 10:10 am
@lexielexy,
Break up dialogue like this with body language attributions and/or questions or reactions from another character and/or some exposition. A big, big block of text is hard to read and, let's face it, nobody talks this way.

For example:

"Your name is John Smith."

"Jonathan, actually." Jon tested the ropes holding him again. The knot holding the rope around his wrists was tight, but a little maneuvering could potentially loosen it.

"Jonathan, right." The interrogator seemed to have lost his place for a moment. "You are twenty-four years old. You were born on …."

"I'm an Aries. It's why I'm so impulsive." Jon grinned at the interrogator. Throwing the man off his game was practically the first lesson of spy school.

"You have a doctorate from Yale."

"I'm just a PhD candidate, actually. Really disappointed Dad, God rest his soul. Never defended my dissertation. Want to hear it some time? It's on the migratory patterns of pygmy snails in Madagascar."

The interrogator mopped his brow with an old handkerchief. "You will now stop interrupting me, or...."

"Or what? You're gonna kill me either way, right? So quit dancing around the subject, Fritz. Can I call you Fritz? You look like a Fritz." And the more I do this, the more 'on the fritz' you get. The thicker and heavier I lay it on, the better.

"As I was saying, you like sushi...."

"You asking me out, fat boy? Because I don't swing that way. But if you've got a sister..."

The interrogator smacked Jon so hard in the jaw that he broke it. But it was just the maneuvering Jon needed to really work on his bindings in earnest. "As I was saying...."
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