The Dialogue Tag Lowdown

 

 

Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Ghostwriter, Rewriter, Coach

I rewrote a young adult book for a client. It was over 100,000 words. 

With that many words, the author felt compelled to mix up the dialogue tags. 

That, though, is never a good idea.

Some of the tags he used included spat, laughed, teased, smirked, joked, yawned, and sneered.

But my client isn't the only one who doesn't realize that there are specific words for dialogue tags. That might be because new authors aren't familiar with the tag's purpose.

So, what exactly is a dialogue tag and how should you use it?

According to The Write Practice, "They 'tag' the dialogue to a particular character. Also often referred to as an attribution, a dialogue tag is a small phrase either before, after, or in between the actual dialogue itself."

That puts it pretty simple. 

Dialogue tags are phrases that identify who is speaking. They are a must for clarity and in order to keep the reader in the know and involved in the story.

A few examples: 

"What was that?" asked John. 

"I couldn't finish my homework," John said. 

"If I go to the store," John said, "I'll pick up milk."

So, you can see that dialogue tags are straight forward. They allow the reader to know who's talking. 

The basic tags are said, replied, asked, and answered. These tags kind of become invisible to the reader. The reader can acknowledge who is talking while not thinking twice about the tag.

But when the basics just aren't enough, you can also use whispered, shouted, mumbled, and muttered. They should be used sparingly and take note that mumbled and muttered have two different meanings.

So, going back to dialogue tags that shouldn't be used, I did a search and was surprised at the results.

One site had a list of dialogue tags that included, emitted, bubbled, chuckled, grinned, sang, smiled, and rejoiced.

Another site had grieved, mewled, bawled, blubbered, fretted, agonized, comforted, admired, hissed, soothed, glowered, placated, assented, tittered, and sobbed, stating they could be used as dialogue tags. 

This may be one of the reasons why some writers feel it's okay to use these words and any other they think of. 

A good way to think about whether a word can be used as a tag is to think of the word and what it means.

You can't blubber dialogue.
You can't admire dialogue.
You can't comfort dialogue.
You can't sneer dialogue.
You can't tease dialogue.
You can't emit dialogue.
You can't spit dialogue. Although you may spit as you talk.

Dialogue tags and adverbs.

This is another common problem that can arise with dialogue and tags - the use of adverbs.

My client did a lot of this as well.

Using an adverb after a tag looks like this:

"Don't bother getting up," John said angrily.

"You're beautiful," John said admiringly.

"Get out of my chair," John said, disgruntled.

Instead of using adverbs, the sentence or paragraph should show how the character is feeling.

Ellen couldn't open her eyes. Crying all night left them swollen and achy. "How could this happen?" 

Showing what's going on allows the reader to know how she's feeling. You wouldn't need to add "sadly" at the end of the tag.

Do you always have to use dialogue tags?

Another question that can come up about dialogue tags is whether they have to be used all the time.

The answer is no, as long as it's clear who's speaking.

John shook his head. "No way. I'm not going."

"You've got to," said Pete.

"No, I don't."

In this simple example, you can see that only one of the dialogues has a tag.

The first one notes who's talking by using: John shook his head.

The dialogue that comes after that is from Pete.

The third dialogue line is John responding to Pete. As there are only two characters in the scene, the reader will know who is speaking.

Writing dialogue is easy once you get the hang of it.

A good way to learn how to write dialogue with proper tags is to read a lot of traditionally published books. Pay attention to the dialogue.

I'm NOT putting down self-published books; I've self-published books. The problem is not all self-published books are done professionally. 

Traditionally published books have professionals editing them; they have gatekeepers to ensure the story is quality. They know the ropes and it's important to learn from books that are done right.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach with clients worldwide. For more tips on writing for children or if you need help with your children’s story, please visit Karen Cioffi Writing for Children.

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 MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally Series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXQL27T/ ) of books for writers including "The Frugal Book Promoter" (https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), and "The Frugal Editor" both offered in their third editions by Modern History Press. Others in that series are "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically," and two booklets, both in their second editions also from Modern History Press. The booklets, "Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers" (https://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and "Great First Impression Book Proposals" (https://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. "The Frugal Editor "(https://tinyurl.com/TheFrugalEditor), was recently released in its third edition. It is the winningest book in this series for writers. Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them understand what is needed to convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is "A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques" (https://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at https://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at "The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor" (https://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow it to get news on her new releases directly from Amazon at https://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.