What goes in a speaker tag? Do you even need one? What type of actions should you mention while that person is talking? How do you format the paragraphs of dialogue correctly? Writing dialogue can be fun, but the character's words can't be the only thing on the page. (Unless you're writing a script or using only dialogue as a stylistic choice, that's another issue.) In most fiction novels, there tends to be a lot of dialogue. It's what drives the story forward and largely what gives the character's their personality. But once you have good dialogue, what do you do in the surrounding space? Where do you go from there? Dialogue Tags
First up, you have the most obvious phrase to put next to a portion of dialogue, a speaker tag. This lets the readers know who is talking, and sometimes how they said it. Most writers have a pretty good grip on these (especially if they read a lot). I don't have much to add, so I'm simply going to repeat some basic advice I've heard a number of times: It's okay to use "said" as it usually just fades into the story. However, I will often use speaker tags to add a phrase about how the character speaking is reacting and/or what they are doing. Like this: "Hey! Get your hands off that!" Raven said, slapping Jim's hand away from the computer. Actions Jumping off of adding a phrase to a tag, you can also use action sentences instead of a tag. As long as the action of a character is in the same paragraph as the dialogue of that same character, the audience will understand that the same person is the one speaking. I like to do this when I don't feel like using a speaker tag, or if there is too much action to put it into one phrase. Here's an example: Billy rushed up to the wall and began climbing, racing his friend. "You'll never catch me!" In the above example, the reader doesn't need dialogue tags becuase it is assumed Billy is talking, not his friend. This is because Billy's actions and dialogue were in the same sentence. If, however, the action and dialogue were sepearated, it wouldn't make as much sense, even with speaker tags: Billy rushed up to the wall and began climbing, racing his friend. "You'll never catch me!" Billy yelled. Tyler laughed at his taunt, speeding up his climb. This layout doesn't work as well because Billy's dialogue and Tyler's actions are in the same paragraph. For clarity, try to keep different characters' actions separate. Feelings and Responses What else is there to say when you have large amounts of dialogue and nothing exciting happening in the action? How do you keep from simply writing a page full of dialogue with a few speaker tags sprinkled in? This is where the feelings come in. Is it an informative conversation? Then have your main character ponder the information in their head. Did they know this already? Does it put pieces together for them? Do they not care at all? Use the time between the dialogue to really explore what your main character's response is to this new information. Is this an argument? Maybe the characters are tied up and cannot do much, so your scene is mostly dialogue. Try breaking it up with facial expressions and mannerisms. What are the underlying feelings in their voices? Have them reflect on why the other character's comments hurt them so much. Here's an example from my novel of showing character's emotions insead of actions surrounding the dialogue: "Vera, you can’t go.” Sadie's voice had grown even more serious, no longer lecturing, but pleading. “Promise me you won’t go.” Vera didn’t know what to say. How could she explain to her friend that she had already made her choice? Nothing Once you get the idea of what to put in the area surrounding your dialogue, it makes those rare moments when you don't have anything around it more impactful. These moments of only dialogue only make a real impact if they aren't normal, but when done right, they can be a lot of fun. I like using this technique during particularly bad fights, or when characters come to an epiphany at the same time. Just look at how much fun this scene is: "How could you?" "How could I?" "Yeah." "I didn't do anything." "Exactly." "Fine. I'll leave." "Good." "Bye." Was this helpful to you about what to put in the areas surrounding important dialogue? What's your favorite type of dialogue to write?
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