Prose check: monologuesIs anyone else in this scene?

In Falcontext’s Edit tab, Monologues is one part of Dialogue balance, with dialogue and narrative. Each part has its own light, and the worst sets the check’s.

Which monologues count

A speech of over 250 words without a break: the words inside the quotation marks, added up across paragraphs. Falcontext doesn’t work out who’s speaking; it goes by the narration between the quotes. A speech tag on its own doesn’t count as a break.

A speech carries on into the next paragraph when that paragraph ends without a closing quotation mark and the next one opens with one, the usual way to write a long speech.

Why 250? The line started at 120 words, which flagged 28 of the 38 published novels I measured three times or more.

What breaks it up

• A beat: someone moves, looks away, pours a drink. “She said, and turned to the window” breaks it; “she said quietly” doesn’t.
• A reaction from whoever’s listening, or their reply in a new paragraph.
• A question that changes the direction.
• A paragraph with no dialogue in it.

Sometimes the long speech is the scene: a confession, a story within the story. Then let it run.

How Falcontext checks monologues

Long speeches come up in pass 2 of the self-editing guide, where you go scene by scene through how the characters talk.

Who’s the talker in your book?

Related checks

In Falcontext