How do you punctuate paragraphed monologues and quotes within them?

Cafe Society
1

I’m finishing up what I hope will be the final edit of my novel. I have a punctuation question. Suppose you write a character’s spoken monologue, divided into paragraphs. Within this monologue, the character quotes themselves, and quotes another person talking to them. How do you punctuate this with quotation marks - by this I mean both double marks (“”…“”) and single marks (‘…’)?

So firstly, assume that the whole monologue, being itself a quote, is enclosed by double quotation marks. Should each paragraph also start with a double mark? Should it also end with a double mark, or should there be no quotation mark at the end of the paragraphs, except for the one which ends the monologue?

If within the monologue the character quotes themselves speaking (e.g. when reporting a dialogue they had), should they include it in single quotes within the double ones? If they quote someone else speaking, should they do the same?

Here is an example of a monologue. I have put certain quotes in parantheses - should those quotes be there, or not? Should any of them be replaced by different quotes?

Having been appraised of the dog’s opinions, the cat proceeded to disabuse him of his idealistic notions of mice.

“In reality, Spike, mice are the peskiest creatures you have ever met. I should know. I speak from experience. Just what happened to me this weekend should give you a good example. Let me tell you about it.(”)

(“)So I was sitting on my favorite armchair, minding my own business, when suddenly, Jerry came out of his mouse hole. I didn’t notice him climb up on the headrest, I just felt the conk he gave my noggin with a mallet.(”)

(“)(‘)What do you think you’re doing!(’)? I yelled at him. Jerry just snickered and ran back into his hole. I jumped from my seat, grabbed a baseball bat, and started pounding it on the floor outside the hole. In response, Jerry started playing Techno music on a louspeaker inside. I kept pounding the bat when suddenly, Jerry pushed a whole cream pie out of the hole, and smacked it right on my face.(”)

(“)I started meowing and scratching at the hole. Then, Jerry stuck his hand out, and it had a big hand buzzer on it, which electrocuted my paw.(”)

(“)(‘)Ha-ha, Tom! I got you there!(’) He jeered at me! You see, Spike, I have no reason to sympathize with mice.”

2

For a multi-paragraph quotation, each and every paragraph gets an opening quotation mark, but only the last graph gets a closing quotation mark.

Quotations within quotations within quotations: The main quotation gets double quotation marks (in US English); the quote inside that gets single quotation marks; and if there’s a quote inside that, it gets double quotation marks.

Punctuation for anyone quoting themselves is the same as it would be if they were quoting someone else.

Good luck with your novel!

3

And in British English, it also alternates, except that there the outermost marks are single marks.

4

Could you simply italicize the entire monologue and skip the outer quotes altogether?

5

Multi-paragraph quotations make the reader work hard to understand who’s talking. Consider combining some of the paragraphs or adding something like “Tom continued” to the beginning of a new paragraph.

6

Maybe so, but they’re not all that uncommon (and the first reply, by @Chad_Sudan, gave the correct standard way of punctuating them). The Sherlock Holmes stories, for example, often include multi-paragraph monologues where people who have come to consult with Holmes explain their predicament.

7

I say make it clear using something different in the font or other appearance of the text. Punctuation rules are inadequate for this circumstance. If it’s not an option, then fine, but if it is make it easier for the reader to understand and let the pedants choke on their own archaic punctuation. Except for the pedants that I like, they can just gag a little.

8

There is considerable recent discussion (among other digressions) on this specific point in the thread cited below. I make no claims to personal expertise on the topic, but our OP might find a trustworthy tidbit in the various posts:

Here’s another trustworthy tidbit:

Said, “If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right”

You got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

9

You might want to find a copy of John Barth’s Chimera. He was a postmodernist alway playing with the form of a novel. Somewhere in Chimera’s three novellas retelling the Arabian Nights he gets to seven layers of dialog within dialog.

Or just follow the advice given above.

10

Release it as an audiobook only,