‘I am extremely displeased! Who do you think you are? I will have your job, Perkins,’ he vociferated. ‘You see! I told you he was a villain!’ Gregory trumpeted. Many double-tell tags also fall into this category: dialogue tags that are obtrusive and overwhelm the dialogue they are supposed to be supporting. Trust in the dialogue you have constructed and reduce the signposting for the reader – it will make for a much more immersive experience. In both of these examples, the dialogue has done the work already and the tag is redundant. ‘I will make sure that we find the culprit. ‘What an incredible sight!’ Joey exclaimed. You can get away with this, usually, with ‘asked’ and ‘replied’ – like ‘said’, they are so common that they are generally invisible. If the dialogue tag is repeating what the reader already knows, that is double-tell. Limit your use of tags to where they are actually needed. If there are no more than two characters in the scene, you can usually trust the reader to keep track of who is saying what, with only the occasional tag or action beat to act as a reminder. I’ll make some custard to go with it,’ she trilled.Ī good way to spot if your use of dialogue tags has become distracting is to read the text aloud or use a text-to-speech program (the latest version of Word has one built in – it’s called Read Aloud and you can find it on the Review tab).Īs I said earlier, the core function of a dialogue tag is to indicate which character is speaking. ‘I think the blueberries will be nice,’ he declared. ‘I’ve put the pie in the oven,’ he stated. It wouldn’t be much better if we used a variety of tags. I know that’s not the most riveting dialogue, but it gives you an idea of how dreary and frustrating that sort of use can be. I’ll make some custard to go with it,’ she said. ‘I think the blueberries will be nice,’ he said. ‘Said’ might be essentially invisible when used sparingly but that doesn’t mean that it should be attached to every single bit of speech. On Editing: How to edit your novel the professional way (2018), Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price, p. ‘Said’, on the other hand, is so commonly used in both speech and writing that it’s virtually invisible. too many variants on ‘said’ can become noticeable the reader ends up focusing on the author’s language, rather than on what’s being said. We don’t want the reader to be thinking about the dialogue tags – we want them to be thinking about the content of the dialogue and what it means for the story and the characters. ‘Said’ is so common, so conventional, that it is almost invisible to most readers. I know there is writing advice out there that will tell you to avoid ‘said’. I’m sure you will also have detected the pacing change brought about by the third example (helped along by the removal of the contraction) – this is a good tool to have in your pocket, especially when you want to create emphasis. Note the placement of the commas and full stops in relation to the quote marks. ‘That,’ Melissa said, ‘is my chocolate cake.’.‘That’s my chocolate cake,’ said Melissa.Melissa said, ‘That’s my chocolate cake.’.It will be helpful to keep this in mind as we explore my advice on how to use dialogue tags – and how to use them effectively.ĭialogue tags can be used before, after, or in the middle of direct speech. Perhaps the most important thing to consider here is that the core function of a dialogue tag is to indicate which character is speaking. Dialogue tags are (usually) essential when writing fiction, and good use can really elevate the prose. Dialogue tags can cause headaches for many authors, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
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