Tag, You're It! Using Dialogue Tags Effectively
Dialogue tags are those short little phrases in dialogue that identify the speaker. Here’s an example:
“I’m so excited about this subject!” Amy said.
“I’m so”—Amy inhaled—“excited about this subject.”
Amy exclaimed, “I’m so excited about this subject.”
“I’m so excited about this subject,” Amy said enthusiastically.
“Amy said,” “Amy inhaled,” “Amy exclaimed,” and “Amy said enthusiastically” are all different examples of dialogue tags. We’re going to talk about which ones work, and which are less effective. Dialogue tags are invisible and useful when done well, but they can kick a reader out of a story so quickly when they aren’t.
Remember the main function of a dialogue tag—to identify who’s speaking.
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using dialogue tags
When I first began writing, I found myself plugging active verbs into my dialogue instead of using ‘said.’ Exclaimed, shouted, whispered, snarled, pled, flirted. Every English class told me to replace boring words—hello, ‘said’—with something more colorful and vivid. The books I grew up on—Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, Noel Streatfeild’s Shoes books—used more vivid and interesting dialogue tags than ‘said.’ The nineteenth-century classics I studied in my degrees did, too. But writing has changed considerably in the last hundred years, and there are many elements of style that these authors relied on that don’t fly today.
Dialogue Tag Example 1
“Oh, no!” Dear Reader exclaimed. “You really want me to omit dialogue tags?”
“Yes, I do,” Amy affirmed.
“But I like the nuance they add,” Dear Reader complained.
“Isn’t your dialogue strong enough without them?” Amy questioned. “If not, maybe it should be,” she added.
“Hmm, I suppose…” Dear Reader mused.
“Try it out. You might like it,” Amy cajoled.
What do you notice about this conversation? Is it interesting? Is it easy reading?
An over-reliance on this type of dialogue tag does a few things. It slows down the pace of the conversation when a reader has to digest each line of dialogue in terms of how the author says it was delivered—usually at the end of the line, too. Sometimes, as authors, we’re afraid that the reader won’t really get the nuance and tone of voice we’re going for. But the place to nail that is in the dialogue itself, not in a description of it. Dialogue tags can sometimes be a crutch for vivid, voice-y speech. These tags also slow us down because they’re repetitive. We know that “Oh, no!” is an exclamation, so we don’t need to be told that.
Dialogue Tag Example 2
Another temptation is to overuse adverbs in our dialogue tags.
“Oh, no!” Dear Reader said excitedly. “You really want me to omit dialogue tags?”
“Yes, I do,” Amy said happily.
“But I like the nuance they add,” Dear Reader said worriedly.
“Isn’t your dialogue strong enough without them?” Amy said questioningly. “If not, maybe it should be.”
“Hmm, I suppose…” Dear Reader said thoughtfully.
“Try it out. You might like it,” Amy said encouragingly.
This use of dialogue tags shares many of the same drawbacks with the first example. Readers don’t need to be constantly told how to interpret lines of dialogue. The dialogue needs to stand on its own.
Look at this same conversation with the tags taken out:
“Oh, no! You really want me to omit dialogue tags?” Dear Reader asked.
“Yes, I do,” Amy said.
“But I like the nuance they add.”
“Isn’t your dialogue strong enough without them? If not, maybe it should be.”
“Hmm, I suppose…”
“Try it out. You might like it.”
Sparkling dialogue? Nah. But better? I think so.
But What About Variety in Dialogue Tags?
Variety in our vocabulary as writers is wonderful (here’s a dialogue tags list), and we’re used to looking for overused words—we all have crutch words that need to be pared down. However, we don’t usually comb through our manuscripts to tally up how many times we used ‘the’ or ‘and’ or ‘I.’ Those words are functional, and we need them performing their functions! ‘Said’ and ‘ask’ fall into that same category. So don’t be afraid to stick with simple, functional dialogue tags.
In fact, you could consider cutting back on dialogue tags substantially. I’m not saying to get rid of them entirely! We don’t want our characters to be talking heads. But we also don’t need to give an action or even a ‘said’ absolutely every time someone speaks.
There’s no rule about how many times you can use ‘said,’ how many times you can ‘snarl’ or ‘bark,’ or how many adverbs you pair with ‘said.’ Different authors writing for different ages and audiences make different choices, and that’s great! Younger readers sometimes need more guidance on interpreting speech than adults. If you’re writing a thriller, your dialogue will probably tend towards the short and snappy, with few dialogue tags, while a slow-burn romance might be all about analyzing tone of voice and meaningful looks. Your own personal style will also come into play. But overall, many writers tend to overuse rather than underuse dialogue tags, so I’d encourage you to be aware and to make deliberate choices.
“This really isn’t so bad,” Dear Reader said.
“Right? I knew you’d love it.” Amy smiled.
“It keeps the focus on this conversation.”
“What else?”
“I’m not telling the reader how to interpret the dialogue. That makes me more invisible as a writer, and my characters take center stage.”
“That’s right!”
“It helps keep my word count down, too.”
“Sure does.”
“And I can sometimes use different verbs.”
“Of course.” Amy chirped, “As long as you have a compelling reason to do so.”
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