Example of dialogue tags12/3/2023 ![]() For example:Īsh wiped sweat from his brow. Use Action in Place of Dialogue TagsĪnother way to skip dialogue tags is to use actions, movements, gestures, facial expressions, etc. You don’t want to go for pages without reminders of who is who, but you should be able to easily go several lines without dialogue tags. If there is no doubt about who is speaking, then a dialogue tag isn’t needed.įor example, in a conversation with two people, after the pattern is established with the first two lines of dialogue, subsequent dialogue tags may not be necessary for a number of lines. That purpose is to indicate to the reader who is speaking. Remember that they serve a functional purpose. In fact, if you play your cards right, you can avoid them much of the time. This is an element of dialogue tags that many aspiring writers don’t realize – you don’t have to use them. Note that certain styles of omniscient POV might get away with using some adverbs in dialogue tags. < Especially with context clues, no one is going to be confused about the fact that he’s suspicious. ![]() “What exactly are you doing?” he said suspiciously. < It’s pretty clear she’s being dramatic here. “Well why don’t I just kill myself then!” she said dramatically. The adverb isn’t adding anything that isn’t already clear. < It’s pretty clear that she’s made a decision. Here are some examples of unneeded adverbs: But still, when it comes to dialogue tags, it’s best to forget about the adverbs. And certain adverbs that fly below the radar I won’t necessarily mess with at all. I might allow for one or two in a chapter if I feel that it’s the best way to convey a concept. I will admit that as far as editors go, I’m a bit more on the lenient side with adverbs than most. < Right! Dialogue Tags Should Not Have Adverbs < Right!ĭialogue tags should also never be used to describe sounds other than dialogue. Remember that dialogue tags only describe the dialogue. This is more of a punctuation mistake than anything else, but it can look unprofessional, especially when the issue is repeated throughout the manuscript. The longer the dialogue, the more important it is to indicate the volume or tone prior to the dialogue. There is nothing more jarring than reading dialogue in a normal tone only to find out at the end of the text that the character was supposed to be screaming or whispering. This allows the reader to read the dialogue with the correct tone or volume level the first time. If you do decide that you need to use a dialogue tag to convey volume or tone, put the dialogue tag before the text whenever possible. The dialogue tags should not be doing the heavy lifting. But the goal should be to make these things clear within the dialogue itself. Likewise, “he joked” might be used if it’s not clear that a character is joking. For example, you may wish to use “he lied” if the reader truly doesn’t know that a character was lying. So what are the basic, invisible dialogue tags? For 95% of cases, stick to either “she said” or “he asked.” If you really absolutely have to convey the volume of the voice, an occasional “he whispered” or “she shouted” is okay.Īny other dialogue tags in your novel should be necessary for clarity. Sometimes a semicolon makes more sense than a period, but you can’t just start throwing ampersands and asterisks around. They’re not intended to be fun or expressive or artistic. Not like invisible ink invisible, but like seen-it-ten-thousand-times-and-don’t-even-care invisible. If you take nothing else away from this article, remember this: Here’s how to master the use of dialogue tags: S tick with the BasicsĪs tempting as it can be to veer off into the land of bizarre-o dialogue tags, it’s best to stick to the basics – the tried and true tags that readers don’t even notice. ![]() All of those little buggers really add up, and they can give the impression that you’re a seasoned pro or an amateur without their sea legs. Not convinced of their importance? Think about how many of them grace the pages of your novel. The most common dialogue tag is “he said.” But they can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes (many of them worse than others). Dialogue tags are the little bits of text that attribute the dialogue to the speaker. Dialogue tags – they’re such a tiny little thing and yet they have a huge impact on the quality, flow, and professionalism of your novel.
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