Content a dialog leaves out

A dialog sets each bullet's opening paragraph as a turn. Anything else it holds sets no turn, so the dialog leaves it out and warns. A bullet with nothing after it is skipped, and a dialog with no turn left renders nothing.

What it looks like

::: dialog
- Who's there?
- - Just the wind.
:::

WARN: dialog: a bullet does not open with a paragraph
  │ ::: dialog
  │ Who’s there?
  bullet 2
  The bullet is left out.
  Write the turn as a plain paragraph after the bullet.
  See https://keystone.knight-owl.dev/errors/dialog-content/#a-bullet-that-does-not-open-with-a-paragraph

::: dialog
- Who's there?
- Just the wind.

  It rattled the shutters all night.
:::

WARN: dialog: a bullet holds more than its paragraph
  │ ::: dialog
  │ Who’s there?
  bullet 2
  What follows its paragraph is left out.
  Give each paragraph its own bullet.
  See https://keystone.knight-owl.dev/errors/dialog-content/#a-bullet-that-holds-more-than-its-paragraph

::: dialog
Night had fallen.

- Who's there?
- Just the wind.
:::

WARN: dialog: content sits outside its bullets
  │ ::: dialog
  │ Night had fallen.
  before the first bullet
  It is left out.
  Write each turn as a bullet, and put other text outside the dialog.
  See https://keystone.knight-owl.dev/errors/dialog-content/#content-outside-the-bullets

What it means

A bullet that does not open with a paragraph

The second bullet opens a nested list, so it has no paragraph to set as a turn. A quote, a heading, a code block or an HTML comment in that place does the same.

Write the turn as a paragraph

Write the words as plain text right after the bullet: - Just the wind.

A bullet that holds more than its paragraph

The indented paragraph continues the second bullet, which sets only its first. A nested list, a quote or an HTML comment under a bullet's words is left out the same way.

Give each paragraph its own bullet

Start a new - for each paragraph; it reads as a new turn, even for the same speaker. Narration belongs outside the dialog: close it with :::, write the prose, and open another.

Content outside the bullets

The paragraph above the bullets is not a bullet, and neither is any other block outside the list — before it, between two lists, or after it. A numbered list or a paragraph typed with its own dash is the usual case. The warning comes once per dialog and names where the first such block sits.

Keep the prose outside the dialog

Move the text, and any note to yourself, above the ::: dialog line or below its closing :::. Write each turn as a - bullet.

Dialogue — how a dialog's turns are written.