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So if I'm correct, you start a new paragraph in dialogue every time a new character is the one focused on.

So if character A says something and then does an action that's all one paragraph, but if character A says something and then character B does an action you'd need to separate those things with a paragraph break. But what if character A does something and then both characters are involved in the non-dialogue text?

This is the sample at hand in case anyone's confused: "Time sure flies when you're having fun…" David frowned and for a moment Morgan detected something strange in his expression. "You should be nicer when you talk about your father, he's a good man: he looks after you and it's pretty clear he loves you very much." (both pieces of dialogue are being said by the character David)

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  • Are you talking about in prose or in a script format?
    – Catija
    Jul 21, 2016 at 21:33
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    Shouldn't this be on Writers.SE ? Jul 21, 2016 at 22:46
  • @Gandalf Ah probably, I was just googling trying to find the answer and came upon this site, I didn't know it was split into sections
    – Biggles
    Jul 21, 2016 at 22:56
  • No problem, my friend. The site has many sections, and I have found it extremely useful for researching topics before committing myself to..umhn....paper. Good luck on your writing. Jul 21, 2016 at 23:01

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Either in a paragraph between two spoken lines, or else parenthetically within the lines of one character. At least, that's how I've seen it done.

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Screen shot from The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw

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