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.’.
#Good dialogue tags how to
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.
0 kommentar(er)
