I have a question for our punctuation gurus.
My upcoming dialogue competition entry consists entirely of dialogue spoken by the main character as part of a conversation she is having with a second character who remains invisible and unheard. I have chosen to use neither dialogue tags nor non-dialogue prose. (Why? Because I can’t make anything simple when I write.)
Here is an example:
“Well, you didn’t waste any time, did you?
“Oh no, I don’t mind. Have a seat.
“No thanks. I’ll pay for my own drink.
“My name? Hmm … let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Applying quotation marks as is done for an extended monologue feels correct. My question concerns the ending of each paragraph. Should an ellipsis be used, as can be done when writing a one-sided phone conversation, to indicate she is now waiting for the second character to speak?
“Well, you didn’t waste any time, did you?…
“Oh no, I don’t mind. Have a seat…
“No thanks. I’ll pay for my own drink…
“My name? Hmm … let’s not get ahead of ourselves...
I am leaning in this direction, but would like to hear your opinions. A concern is that this approach could lead to clutter since ellipses are also needed to indicate hesitation and pauses in speech.
Most likely, I am overthinking this.