Can I use parenthesis in a conversation?
I wrote a dialogue as follows:> Then he said to her: "I told you I won't do that! (And I think you shouldn't either)".Somebody then asked me: How is a speech in a parenthesis?I'd like to know if you can understand that it is something said in a lower tone, as if it didn't belong to the main line of thought or not. Is it usual in writing?I've seen some posts such as the following and they look pretty dubious to me: http://www.writingforums.org/threads/can-you-use-parentheses-in-dialogue.61993/ The questions, then, are: 1. Is it correct? 2. Is it usual? 3. Is it understandable? 4. Are there alternatives?
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2 Answers By Expert Tutors
Victor L. answered • 08/03/19
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Experienced technical advisor
As a creative writer I say go for it, but just know that it is unconventional, and it would look like an error unless your complete work was written in a unconventional fashion.
Parentheticals are mainly used to pass additional information from the writer to the reader through text, so you might see it in first-person narration, but never in dialogue.
Lisa W. answered • 07/31/19
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Experienced High School English Teacher Specializing in STAAR
the parentheses should be used to depict inside thoughts of the character during dialogue. outside of dialogue its used to give information that the reader does not know that could help them.
in your case the statement in parentheses should probably be stated by the narrator, or clearly stated by the character after his/her previous line
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Kristine F.
1. No, it is not correct. 2. Because it is incorrect, it is not common. 3. It is confusing! 4. The alternatives depend on what you are trying to communicate! Is the text in parenthesis what the narrator is thinking? Or is it part of the dialog? Here are a couple of ways you could write it. "I told her I won't do that, and I don't think you should either!" This example communicates that the narrator has spoken both lines. If that isn't your intention, you could write it like this: "I told you I won't do that!" (ital) And I don't think you should either. If this narrator is bugged, bothered, mad - express that too. You could do it like this: "I told you I won't do that!" It was all I could do not to scream at her. (ital) I don't think you should either! There are a lot of ways to do this little dialog - you just have to play with it. But in dialog, there are no parenthesis. The most important thing is clarity. You never want to confuse your reader or you will bump her/him out of the story. Best wishes!07/31/19