1) When a thought is interrupted, can one put elipses inside quotation marks, then comma out, descriptive part of sentence, then comma, quotation marks, and finally elipses before ending thought? Ex:
"Oh, thank you, dear. I have another…", she adjusted her coat which had twisted around when she sat, and pulled off a glove with a slight grunt at each finger and reached into her pocket, "…here. Ah. Would you join me in a holiday drink?"
No idea if technically correct, but it looks very ugly, which is enough for me to say don't do it. The fact that her speech is interrupted by action is no reason to avoid having a capital letter and full stop (period) in the description/action - after all if what she is saying were to be interrupted by someone else talking, you'd give that new speech proper punctuation. So:
"Oh, thank you, dear. I have another…" She adjusted her coat... and reached into her pocket. "… here. Ah. Would you join me in a holiday drink?"
Two things - I'd suggest that you don't have quite as much description/action in between the two halves of her speech as it is disruptive; and not sure if it was a typo but there should be a space between the ellipses and the next word (though not between the end word and then the ellipses ie 'another...' '... here'). [Can't find that as a rule, so it may just be something I've made up!!]
2) When a thought is complete immediately before or after speech, does the thought end with a period before beginning speech, or does it have to have the comma (assumming there are no tag words such as asked, said, and so on)? Ex:
The man pulled his finger out of his mouth to examine the wound. The bleeding had already stopped and the scratch was just a small pink impression. "I think it's fine. Don't worry about it."
Full stop. This was right.
and the other way, when speech comes first:
"Have you heard of the King of Misrule?" The old woman slipped her nearly empty bottle in the netted pocket dangling from the seat between her shins and began to rummage through her seemingly never-ending supply of pockets within her coat.
This was right also. (If it hadn't been a question, it would have been a full stop after Misrule.)
and what about these - comma or period?:
"Ah, here it is," with a flourish she pulled a small leafy wreath from beneath her coat, and held it out to the man.
Should have been full stop and capital letter ie "Ah, here it is." With a flourish... Again, don't get hung up on the fact that her speech is seemingly incomplete, just because she's still thinking. That isn't the important issue, it's the words which follow which govern how you punctuate.
"I have treats in here somewhere." She again fumbled through her coat and when her hands emerged, she held an old tin.
This is right.
and if there are differences, could someone please explain it to me as simply as possible so I can remember it clearly for next time
