WRITING | Point of View - Direct and Indirect Speech - Quotation Marks

Direct and Indirect Speech

One of the biggest decision you have to make as the author is what balance you want between direct and indirect speech. Direct speech is what goes in quotation marks, the actual words either spoken aloud by a character, or the actual words that the character is thinking. Indirect speech is a report of what the character is saying or thinking, and it does not go in quotation marks. Every story contains a combination of direct speech and indirect speech. Challenge yourself as you are writing: if your story is heavy on reported speech, see if you can add some words or thoughts coming directly from the characters - and vice versa, if your story is full of quoted speech, see if you can add some new perspective by using indirect reported speech instead.