Help the Nova with Grammar

[Victoria]

Never put your punctuation outside of quotes unless you're referencing something.

"Name?" he asked.

You don't need a comma if you're dialog is a question. If it's simple speech,

"Mal Nova," he replied.

As for referencing something...

Example:

I was reading this thing, and it said "That's great stuff!", but I didn't really understand it.

Does that help?