Hello - new to the forum. I have written the first draft of a novel, which includes a great deal of dialogue. I do not want Scrivener to check dialogue spelling. Is there any way to do this (or not, so to speak)?
Thanks!
I don’t think so. Spelling is determined by the two checkboxes in File > Corrections > Spelling. Dialogue Focus works the oppositie way.
I don’t know if Grammarly or ProWritingAid have such a setting? If they do, you can turn Scrivener’s Spelling feature off.
We still haven’t made it so you can turn spell check off in one project while leaving it on in others!
That aside, I don’t know how this would be realistically accomplished at present. Something very specific and specialised like that is probably better seen as within the domain of dedicated proofing tools. It would take not only a fairly complex understanding of the many forms of syntax used to denote dialogue, but be running on top of an engine that is capable of switching spell check off and on, on a per-character basis. I don’t think the latter is even possible with the third-party tool we use.
Thank you very much. I’ve read about a way to do it using Word. Not crazy about it. But it might work.
I often write in Maine dialogue–that’s my more-or-less-native language–and just hit Learn Spelling when the Spell-checker chokes on something anybody between Kittery and Eastport (or certain parts of 17th century Devonshire) would say in everyday yakking.
That’s exactly my issue. Arkansas dialect. I was just looking for a possible shortcut. Thank you.
Believe me: the three seconds needed to highlight a peculiar word, right click, and select Learn Spelling is a cheap investment in your writing future. Because I’m originally from East Tennessee, I’ve taught the Apple spell engine to be proficiently trilingual: East Tennessee, Coastal Maine, and Proper English.
Have you written something with all 3 included?
Four books and maybe a thousand magazine articles. Though not every magazine piece needed dialect dialogue. Dialect, you’ll find if you’re writing for publication, is more a seasoning than a main course.