Capitalisation: The appropriate use

Once you have your punctuation fixed, capitalization is easy.  We're going to abandon our Joe and Sara example and use a couple shorter examples instead.

1.  The first word of a quote is ALWAYS capitalized.

It doesn't matter where you put the describer phrase, you always need to capitalize the quote.  For example:

Quote :

"neldor!" i yelled in pain.

To fix this would be:

Quote :

"Neldor!" I yelled in pain.

See how "I" and 'Neldor' are always capitalized?

2. The first word of a describer phrase is NEVER capitalized if it comes after a comma.

Quote :

"i'll show you," she said. She knew that this was a hard thing for me to accept.

to fix this would go:

Quote :

"I'll show you," she said. She knew that this was a hard thing for me to accept.

or:

Quote :

i turned to face hycis, "where was neldor found?"

to fix this would go:

Quote :

I turned to face Hycis, "Where was Neldor found?"

3.  The first word of a describer phrase is ALWAYS capitalized if it comes after a period.

Quote :

"whats wrong, gaelira?" i was already worried about her. no matter how hard she tried to hide it, she could not for too long.

to fix this would go:

Quote :

"Whats wrong, Gaelira?" I was already worried about her. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, she could not for too long.

or:

Quote :

i gulped. "you have got to be lying."

to fix this would go:

Quote :

I gulped. "You have got to be lying."

4.  If a describer phrase comes after a question mark or exclamation point, the describer phrase is NEVER capitalized UNLESS it does not refer to that specific quote.

Quote :

"neldor!" i yelled in pain

to fix this would go:

Quote :

"Neldor!" I yelled in pain

OR

Quote :

"what do you mean?" She asked.

to fix this would go:

Quote :

"What do you mean?" she asked.

One final note- keep in mind that when I say "never," I'm not referring to proper nouns (like names) that should be capitalized no matter where in the sentence they fall.

And with that, you're done!  You are now are an expert at writing dialogue properly!