Dialogue tags (or speech tags) serve the crucial role in fiction writing of making it clear who is speaking.

 

As we can see below, dialogue tags can come at the start, in the middle or at the end of a speech:

 

Sally said, ‘It’s time we sorted this out once and for all.’

‘It’s time we sorted this out once and for all,’ said Sally.

‘It’s time,’ said Sally, ‘we sorted this out once and for all.’  

 

Some inexperienced novelists struggle with the punctuation surrounding dialogue tags, especially when the tags go in the middle of the speech. Note that a comma goes before the first closing quotation mark and the second opening quotation mark. The second part of the quote starts with a lower-case letter unless it is a new sentence in the initial quote.

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For example:

 

It’s clear to me that this can’t carry on.

‘It’s clear to me,’ said Sally, ‘that this can’t carry on’

 

‘This can’t carry on. We’ve got to sort it out once and for all.’

‘This can’t carry on,’ said Sally. ‘We’ve got to sort it out once and for all.’

 

We can see from the examples above that, as well as making clear who is speaking, dialogue tags affect the rhythm and pace of dialogue in novels. Many authors will vary the positioning of the dialogue tags to add variety and so prevent the writing from appearing formulaic. 

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It’s also inadvisable to use tags after every piece of dialogue. If there are only two people taking part in the conversation, it is often clear who is talking.

Even if there are more people involved, action beats and the content of the speech will often make tags unnecessary.

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As with many things in fiction writing, it’s all a question of striking a balance. A section of dialogue that goes on for too long without a tag may leave readers uncertain of who is talking. Placing tags after every speech, on the other hand, is likely to become obtrusive and break up the rhythm of the prose. 

 

Keeping it simple with dialogue tags in novels

By far the most common verb in a dialogue tag is ‘said’. It’s so common that readers may barley notice it – their focus is where the author wants it to be: on what is being said.

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The problem is that some novelists are self-conscious about repeatedly using ‘said’ – and decide to add some variety.

 

‘You’re improving every day – I really think you can do it,’ encouraged Susan.

‘That rottweiler is very aggressive,’ warned Tim.

‘Report to my office at nine o’clock sharp,’ ordered the headmaster.

‘Perhaps it was him who stole the money,’ hypothesised Debbie.   

 

In all of these cases, the word ‘said’ would have served very well. Trying to add variety with a more extravagant verb risks distracting the reader so that their focus is on the tag rather than the speech itself. Worse still, they may feel patronised that you feel it necessary to be so explicit in your choice of verb.

 

Does the speech itself need strengthening?

Fiction writers are sometimes tempted to use a more powerful sounding tag to compensate for an underwhelming speech:

 

‘We can’t break in,’ warned Tim.

 

The quote here is rather undramatic and so the author has used ‘warned’ in the tag in an effort to instil a feeling of jeopardy. This leaves the tag sounding more dramatic than the actual quote!

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The best solution is to go back and strengthen the quote so that it can stand on its own two feet:

 

‘If the security guard catches us, he’ll set that rottweiler on us,’ said Tim.

 

In this case, the sense of jeopardy is revealed vividly in the speech, and there is no need to use anything other than ‘said’ in the tag.

 

Don’t overdo the use of dialogue tags in novels

While ‘said’ is the most unobtrusive verb to use in a dialogue tag, there are still limits. In the example below we can see how the repeated use of ‘said’ can start to feel a little wearing:

 

‘I went for a job interview today,’ said James.

‘You did what?’ said Martin.

‘An office job with some solicitors in town,’ said James.

‘Your A levels, James. We agreed,’ said Martin.

‘You and mum agreed. It’s good money,’ said James.

‘How much more do you think you could earn with A levels and a degree?’ said Martin.

‘And how many tens of thousands of pounds of debt would I be stuck with?’ said James.

‘You’re finishing your A levels and that’s final,’ said Martin.

‘They’ve already offered me the job – and I’ve said yes,’ said James.

 

It would be possible to leave out a few of these tags without causing any confusion over who is speaking. Action beats could also be used to add variety and depth to the text:

 

‘I went for a job interview yesterday,’ said James.

Martin put down his Financial Times and stared at his son. ‘You did what?’

‘An office job with some solicitors in town.’

Martin flung his newspaper onto the floor. ‘Your A levels, James. We agreed.’

‘You and mum agreed. It’s good money.’

‘How much more do think you could earn with A levels and a degree?’

James stood and headed to the door. ‘And how many tens of thousands of pounds of debt would I be stuck with?’

‘You’re finishing your A levels and that’s final,’ said Martin.

‘They’ve already offered me the job – and I’ve said yes.’ James slammed the door behind him.

 

Don’t try to make your characters do the physically impossible…

In their eagerness to indicate the way that someone has said something, novelists sometimes ask them to do the physically impossible!

 

‘You look ridiculous,’ laughed Jill.

‘It’s good to see you,’ smiled Ray.

‘I’ve no idea where he is,’ shrugged Kate.

‘This is the most boring film I’ve ever seen,’ yawned Mike.

 

We can say words – but we can’t laugh, smile, shrug or yawn them. Using tags like this again risks distracting readers.

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To take the example of Mike and his somewhat less than thrilling film, there are several ways we could fix the problem. For example:

 

‘This is the most boring film I’ve ever seen,’ said Mike, yawning.

‘This is the most boring film I’ve ever seen,’ said Mike with a yawn.

Mike yawned. ‘This is the most boring film I’ve ever seen.’

 

Using dialogue tags in novels: Conclusion

Dialogue tags can be an invaluable tool for novelists in bringing clarity to their narrative. As is often the case in fiction writing, though, it’s important not to overuse them.

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Before inserting a dialogue tag, always ask yourself if it is really required – or if it is just adding unnecessary clutter that could distract your readers.

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