Following on from Opera's recent grammar post

[redfiona99]

Here - http://opera142.livejournal.com/410335.html

a different question.

You Character one speaks. Performs an action. Speaks again. Do you need a new paragraph for his second speech?

Comments

Get a second opinion!

[opera142.livejournal.com]

I tend to organize that as one. For clarity reasons, I guess. If readers are trained to expect a new speaker with new paragraphs, then I fret that the second run of dialogue would seem like it's being spoken by a different character.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

Same speaker, same paragraph. New speaker, new paragraph.

Exceptions do apply, I guess. If it's A speaks, then 2947829 things happen, and then A speaks again. Or A makes a long speech, does something, and makes another long speech. I'd usually put that second dialogue in a new paragraph, but make it pretty clear it's A speaking again.