Punctuation (?) question, maybe organizing?

[opera142]

The way I remember being taught dialogue was that whenever someone new speaks, it requires a new line. I double-checked The Well-Tempered Sentence, and that's the advice it gave.

However, I've been seeing mashed dialogue in books lately. The sort of exchanges that go: "Do you want to come with me to the store?" I asked, gathering my purse and cloth bags. He scowled, not even bothering to look away from the television. "Hell no!"

I would split that into two paragraphs, either between "bags" and "he" or at "Hell no!"

Have I been seeing bad editing, or is there an exception to the dialogue rule that I'm unaware of?

Comments

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

I'd say bad editing. New speaker = new paragraph.

[yesdrizella.livejournal.com]

Bad editing. I wouldn't even credit it with trying to be ~omg creative~ unless the story in question is ridiculously ground-breaking.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

I also vote for bad editing. It can get far too confusing far too quickly when dialogue isn't formatted with proper paragraph breaks.

[wishtheworst.livejournal.com]

Another vote for bad editing.

[wolfshift.livejournal.com]

New speaker, new paragraph -- no matter what kind of shoddy, cut-rate editing you find in books. Unless there's some specific literary reason for it (and I have seen a few examples), but that requires a clever writer who knows exactly what he's doing AND a clever editor to recognise what's going on.

[evilgmbethy.livejournal.com]

Going to go with the crowd and say bad editing.