Dialogue - The Finer Points

Dialogue: What is it good for?

• Fastest way to advance the action of the story
• Reveals characters & provides characterization
• Provides exposition in a more realistic way
• Effective dialogue depends on an ability to listen and develop an ear for the way people speak.

How Can I Make My Dialogue Sound Real?
• Speak in short sentences
• Speak in fragments
• Change the subject
• Digress
• Use Colloquialism/verisimilitude
• Answer questions with questions or avoid answering
• Ignore what’s being said by the other person
• Respond to things that haven’t been said
• Repeat words or expressions

Speaker Tags
Always use tags when it may be unclear who is speaking. In two person scenes tags may not be necessary after the first one or two.

3 Types of Tags:

1. Speaker Tag
• Use “said” or “says”. Avoid fancy verbs like “ejaculated” or “spit”, “hissed” or “screeched” (unless you are writing a parody or humorous story). Use fancy verbs sparingly.
• Avoid adverbs (LY words) that indicate how something was said. (she said greedily; he said nastily; we said conversationally; It said nervously; They said happily). Adverbs suggest that your writing is not clear.

2. Action Tag
• Identify a speaker with a sentence expressing action before or after a speech
• Allows reader to “see” what is going on during dialogue
• Provides characters with movement and therefore reveals character or detail

3. Thought Tag
• Express what your character thinks, feels, knows, or wonders.
Do NOT use: “she thought”; “They felt”; “We knew”; “He wondered”, etc. Simply state the opinion on the same line, right after the tag. Overuse of this indicates telling, rather than showing.

Punctuation

“We’re going to learn how to punctuate dialogue,” the teacher said.

A groan rose from the students.

One of them whispered to her neighbor, “Oh, no. Not again! This teacher is always trying to teach us. He should mind his own business and let us get some sleep.”

Many of the students were already yawning.

“Punctuation goes INSIDE the quotes ALWAYS!” the teacher said. “If the quote does not end in an exclamation point or question mark, then after the tag line you must include a period,” he added.

“What do you mean?”

“Simple,” the teacher explained. “When you do not have a tag at the end of a line of dialogue, you can stop with a period.”

“Of course, you would have to use a comma when the complete sentence has not yet been completed,” a student realized.

“Every time there is a new speaker start a new paragraph.” The teacher emphasized this point by pulling out his hair in tufts.

A student’s hand shot up. “What do you mean?”

“I mean every time a new character speaks....”

“Or interrupts?”

“Yes, or interrupts. A new paragraph must be started.” The teacher continued to talk about dialogue and punctuation. He answered any questions the students had. Then he said, “You see? It’s easy.” The teacher knew his students were beginning to understand. He didn’t need to start a new paragraph since he had been uninterrupted in his speech.

The student in the back row smiled. He said, “I see now. Commas are placed before the quotation when the tag comes in the FRONT of the quote.”

“Yes! Exactly,” the teacher said. “Or inside the quote when the tag comes at the end.” The teacher sipped his coffee, then added, “Just like I did just now.”

“This is simple!”

“Yes,” Shirley, a happy student in the front of the class, said. “This is simple.”

The students understood so well, in fact, that they never made another punctuation error when using dialogue.

“Hurrah!” The teacher gave everyone in the class an A when grades were due because they had learned so much!

The End