Dialogue is the hardest thing to dictate. In narration, a missing comma is a small error. In dialogue, a missing quotation mark or a misplaced paragraph break changes who is speaking, and a reader loses the thread. The reward is worth the effort: speaking dialogue aloud is one of the best ways to make it sound like speech, because you hear the rhythm as you write it. This guide covers how to dictate dialogue cleanly: the commands that matter, how to handle tags, interruptions and trailing-off lines, how to manage speaker changes, how to review what you dictated, and which of Quillen's dialogue options to switch on. For the general setup, see how to dictate your novel.
The short answer
Speak each line as you would perform it, say your punctuation, say "new paragraph" when the speaker changes, and let Quillen's dialogue options handle quotation marks and paragraph breaks where they can. Then reread the dialogue once for the places the transcription had to guess. The punctuation commands you need most are comma, period, question mark, exclamation mark, dash, ellipsis, open quote and close quote.
Why dialogue is harder
Dialogue stacks several formatting decisions into a short space: quotation marks, the comma before a tag, the capital after a period, a new paragraph for each speaker. When you speak it, the software has to work out which of your words are speech and where one speaker ends. Two things help it: speaking in clear sentences with pauses between them, and giving it explicit commands at the points where it cannot guess.
The commands for dialogue
| Say | You get | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| open quote ... close quote | A pair of double quotation marks | Speech, when you want full control |
| open single quote ... close single quote | Single quotation marks | Quotes within speech, or British style |
| comma, period, question mark, exclamation mark | , ? ! | Ordinary sentence endings |
| dash (or em dash) | An em dash | Interrupted speech |
| ellipsis (or dot dot dot) | An ellipsis | Trailing off, hesitation |
| new paragraph | A paragraph break | A change of speaker |
| literal | Writes the next command word as a word | When a character actually says "period" |
Two ways to handle quotation marks
Say the quotes yourself
For total control, say "open quote" and "close quote" around each line. It is slower and interrupts the flow of performing the line, but it is the most reliable. If you do this, Quillen's automatic dialogue detection does nothing, since you have already marked the speech.
Let Quillen add them
With the option Put quotation marks around dialogue switched on, a small model running on your computer picks out what characters say, with or without a tag such as "she said", and adds the marks for you. It is usually right, but not always, so plan to review. It is the faster method for long scenes of conversation and keeps you in the character's voice.
Dictating dialogue tags and beats
Speak the tag as part of the sentence and say the comma: "I need a boat comma he said period". Tags and action beats read naturally when you speak them in sequence. For a beat rather than a tag, make it its own sentence: "I need a boat period He glanced over his shoulder period". A habit that helps is to keep tags short and use "said" as your default: it is easy to say, easy for the software to recognize and easy for the reader to ignore.
Interruptions, hesitations and overlaps
Say "dash" at the point of the interruption and end the line there: "I thought you wanted dash". Say "ellipsis" for a trailing-off line. Speak hesitation as written: "I, I don't know". When two characters speak over each other, break the exchange into short lines of dialogue, each in its own paragraph, and review them afterwards. Avoid dictating a long, complicated overlap in one go.
Managing speaker changes
The rule in fiction is one paragraph per speaker. Two options help:
- Start a new paragraph when a different character speaks. Quillen tries to detect the change. Two characters speaking back to back with nothing in between is the hard case, even for a person reading, so say "new paragraph" when it misses one.
- Start a new paragraph after a pause of three seconds or more. This only applies after a finished sentence, so stopping to think mid-sentence never splits it. If you pause naturally between lines, this does much of the work.
- Say "new paragraph" yourself at every change of speaker if you want certainty.
A worked example
Spoken, with the commands as you would say them:
open quote I need a boat comma close quote he said period new paragraph open quote Not tonight comma close quote Wren said period open quote The river is too high period close quote
The result in the manuscript:
"I need a boat," he said.
"Not tonight," Wren said. "The river is too high."
Notice that the second paragraph holds both of Wren's sentences, since one speaker continues. A pause after "Wren said" would also have started a new paragraph if you had not wanted it, which is why the three-second rule only matters when you are thinking, not speaking.
Review what you dictated
Do a dialogue pass straight after dictating, while the scene is fresh. Check these:
- Quotation marks: every opening has a closing; none around narration.
- Paragraphs: one per speaker, and no paragraph that mixes two speakers.
- Attribution: it is always clear who is speaking.
- Names: character names spelled the same everywhere (use Find & Replace; see how to use Find and Replace for consistency).
- Punctuation: commas before tags and full stops inside the quote marks.
- Voice: read it aloud or have it read to you; see how to edit your novel by listening.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Problem | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Mumbling lines | The transcript guesses wrong | Speak each line clearly, as if performing it |
| Not saying the punctuation | Run-on dialogue | Say comma, period and the rest |
| Running speakers together | Two voices in one paragraph | Say "new paragraph" at each change |
| Trusting auto-quotes blindly | Occasional misses | Review the scene afterwards |
| Dictating an overlap in one go | A tangled passage | Break it into short lines |
| Not reviewing names | Spelling variants | Search for each name afterwards |
Do it in Quillen
Quillen's dictation converts your speech to text on your own computer, so nothing is uploaded. The dialogue options are in the Dictation guide.
- Open a scene and click in the manuscript where the dialogue should go.
- Open the Dictation guide with the open-book button at the right of the toolbar. It lists the voice commands and the dialogue switches.
- Choose your dialogue options. Switch on Put quotation marks around dialogue if you want Quillen to add them, and Start a new paragraph when a different character speaks and Start a new paragraph after a pause of 3 seconds or more to handle breaks.
- Click Dictate in the toolbar. When the button changes to Stop with a live dot, you can talk.
- Perform the dialogue. Speak in sentences, pause between lines, and say your punctuation and "new paragraph" as needed. Text arrives about every 10 to 20 seconds, at your pauses.
- Click Stop when done. Quillen adds the closing quote of your last line. If a chunk went wrong, press Ctrl+Z to remove the whole chunk.
- Review the scene, then use Read aloud to hear it.
Checklist
- A quiet room and a working microphone.
- Dialogue options set before you start.
- Punctuation and "new paragraph" spoken as you go.
- Lines spoken in character, in clear sentences.
- Scene reviewed for quotation marks, paragraphs and names.
- Dialogue listened to once with Read aloud.
Common questions
How do I dictate dialogue with quotation marks?
Either say 'open quote' and 'close quote' around each line, or switch on Quillen's option to put quotation marks around dialogue, which uses a small on-device model to find speech.
How do I start a new paragraph for each speaker when dictating?
Say 'new paragraph' at each change of speaker, or switch on the options to start a new paragraph when a different character speaks and after a pause of three seconds or more.
How do I dictate an interrupted line?
Say 'dash' at the point of interruption and end the line there. Say 'ellipsis' for a trailing-off line.
Does Quillen's dictation upload my speech?
No. It converts speech to text on your own computer, so nothing is uploaded.
How do I fix a wrong chunk of dictation?
Press Ctrl+Z. One press removes a whole chunk of dictated text.