5 Tips to write dialogue effectively
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A good book will likely contain some dialogue, and as you move into books for older children, you are sure to use more and more of it. But how do you tell your reader who’s talking? And more importantly, how do you do it without interfering with the integrity of the story? With dialogue tags!
What are dialogue tags?
Dialogue tags are exactly what they sound like—they are tags that tell the reader who is speaking. He said, she said, Callie yelled. These are all dialogue tags. They set up not only who is speaking, but how they are speaking. At their best, dialogue tags should guide the reader, while remaining largely invisible. They can be critical to understanding a character’s state of mind at any given time, and yet, they are often overdone and become distracting. For example:
“I give up,” Molly shouted, stomping her foot.
“Why would you give up?” Sue questioned.
“Because this is impossible,” Molly cried. “I can’t do it!”
“Sure you can,” Sue implored. “Just try again.”
“No,” Molly resisted. “I’m done.”
In the above segment, the dialogue tags give us a sense of how the characters are feeling, but the words are so loud that they call attention to themselves. Any sense of what this conversation is about disappears under the tags used.
So, how can you avoid overusing dialogue tags?
Simplify your dialogue tags
Many authors strive for as much variety as possible in their dialogue tags. The feeling is that this will teach new readers more words, or that it will keep the text from getting boring. The problem is, rather than making the text boring, it makes it hard to read. Most conversation is had in a calm fashion. We don’t generally shout, cry, yell, or sigh when we speak, and neither should your characters. Telling your reader that a character cried or shouted draws attention to how they spoke, rather than what they said. Save these words for when you truly need to convey how a character is speaking. If it matters that your character is crying or shouting, then use your dialogue tags to let the reader know that. But otherwise . . . simplify.
The most commonly used tags are “said” and “asked” for a reason. It’s because they are so commonplace that they get overlooked—which is exactly what you want of your dialogue tags. These are meant to be functional, and the function is telling the reader who is speaking. So keep it to that, and let the focus of your dialogue stay on the words being said!
Cut the tags altogether
Dialogue tags are a great way to tell a reader who’s talking, but they aren’t the only way. Try setting up your sentences by introducing the character first. Give them an action that draws attention to that character. For example:
Cassie wiped her eyes. “I just miss him.”
From this line, we know that it is Cassie who is speaking. No tag is needed, and we know how she’s feeling.
Also keep in mind that, as your reader gets older, their ability to decipher who is talking gets better. Especially in a back and forth conversation between two people, the simple use of quotation marks and dialogue tags at the start of the exchange will make it clear who is speaking. For example:
“This shirt makes me looks stupid,” Mark said.
“No,” Mom said. “You look handsome.”
“I look stupid. And short.”
“How can a shirt make you look short?”
“I don’t know. But I look short! And since I refuse to believe that I am short, I’m blaming the shirt!”
We know from the get-go that this is a conversation between Mark and Mom. And because a new line starts with each new person speaking, we can follow the conversation and know who’s talking.
Use your characters’ names in dialogue
Not sure your reader will be able to keep up with who’s talking as a conversation progresses? Rather than inserting dialogue tags, try using your character’s names to tell the reader who’s talking. Take a look at the above exchange. With a few tweaks, it now reads as follows:
“This shirt makes me looks stupid,” Mark said.
“No,” Mom said. “You look handsome.”
“I look stupid. And short.”
“Come on, Mark. How can a shirt make you look short?”
“I don’t know. But I look short! And since I refuse to believe that I am short, I’m blaming the shirt!”
Midway through, Mom addresses Mark by name. This reminds us who’s speaking as we dig deeper into the conversation.
Of course, this only works if there are two people in a conversation. Once you add a third person to the conversation, it becomes harder to follow. At that point, you’ll need the dialogue tags and other context clues to show who’s talking. For example:
“This shirt makes me looks stupid,” Mark said.
“No,” Mom said. “You look handsome.”
“I think he looks stupid,” Cassie said.
Mark narrowed his eyes at his sister. “Thanks, Cassie.”
Cassie shrugged. “Hey, I can only speak the truth.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Mom said. “Mark, you do not look stupid. And Cassie, stop antagonizing your brother.”
“Whatever,” Cassie said.
Here, the dialogue tags are mixed with context clues to let you know who is talking, but they aren’t overused. By sticking to the word said, the focus stays on the words themselves, not how they are said.
Do try for some variety
While staying simple is great, using “said” on every line will start to feel redundant. So try to use a variety of tactics. For example:
Molly sunk to the ground. “I give up.”
“Give up? Why would you give up?” Sue asked.
“Because this is impossible,” Molly cried. “I can’t do it!”
“Sure you can,” Sue said. “Just try again.”
Molly shook her head. “No. I’m done.”
Here, most of the lines do have dialogue tags, but they fall to the background. Instead, the focus stays on the character’s words, with the one louder tag being used to really convey Molly’s emotions. Further, by removing the tags in a few places, it keeps the ones that are still there from feeling overdone. This conversation offers a nice balance of techniques to keep the conversation flowing naturally.
Finally, in all things, trust your ear. If it feels like you’ve used the word “said” too many times, try to cut it. See if you can do without a tag at all, or if there’s another way to phrase the dialogue tag. Ask another person to read the exchange to see if they are following who is speaking. If it sounds good to you and you don’t stumble over the text, chances are it reads well!
