![]() There is one other issue with using a variation of “said” instead of that word: It can lead to weak dialogue. Here, Long wants his readers to focus on the conversation, not a dialogue tag, so he uses “said” and “asked.” If he’d had Jaylin proclaim or shout his lines, that would have taken away from the serious nature of their discussion and its impact on the story. That decision has a major impact on her character and the plot. This is the moment Zo decides to become a vigilante. Take a look at what these characters are talking about: Zo’s clairvoyance and how to use it. Have you ever visited any of the creeps?” (46-47) “Some serious damage is what to do with it. don’t know what to do with it once I do.” ![]() All the information is there: the victim, the way they die, and who kills them. If it describes a character’s action rather than the character’s words, it’s not a dialogue tag and needs to become a new sentence.“It’s interesting,” Jaylin, a street friend of hers, had said, always curious about her clairvoyant abilities. So, simply put: if your phrase identifies and describes the dialogue, it’s a dialogue tag (even if you add additional elements to it). “I don’t know who did it!” With a final angry look, she stalked away. “I don’t know who did it!” she shouted, then stalked away. “Do you want to go out tonight?” He gave her a suggestive grin. “Do you want to go out tonight?” he asked with a grin. “I need to take a nap.” He could feel his whole body drooping. “I need to take a nap,” he mumbled wearily. The dialogue ends with a period within the closed quotes, and the pronoun “he” becomes the first word in a new sentence, so it must be capitalized. “I’ll walk you back to your ship.” She fell into step beside him. Therefore, that phrase needs to become its own sentence. “I’ll walk you back to your ship,” she fell into step beside him.īecause while “she fell into step” gives you the identity of the speaker (“she”), it does not describe the dialogue, so it doesn’t meet the criteria for a dialogue tag. The wrong way is to follow the dialogue tag rules, like this: The rules for punctuation stay the same.īut what about that substitution we talked about earlier, where you want to replace the dialogue tag with a character action? That’s where it all goes sideways. You identify the speaker, describe the dialogue, then follow the dialogue tag with the additional information. ![]() ![]() “I’ll walk you back to your ship,” she said, falling into step beside him. So the first thing to remember is that whatever punctuation you use for the spoken words, whether it’s a comma or ellipses, question mark or em-dash, it’s ALWAYS going to come inside the close quotes.Īnd what happens when you want to include a character action after the dialogue tag? If the first word after the dialogue is not a proper noun (such as John or Stacey), that word is not capitalized. In the third & fourth sentences, the question mark or exclamation mark takes the place of the comma, again inside the quotes. The proper punctuation of the first two sentences shows the comma inside the closing quotes, followed by the dialogue tag. ![]() “I don’t know who did it!” shouted (description) Stacey (identity). “Do you want to go out tonight?” John (identity) asked (description). “I need to take a nap,” he (identity) mumbled (description). “I’ll walk you back to your ship,” she (identity) said (description). He asked, she said, John murmured or whispered, Stacey shouted or screamed―these are all dialogue tags. So, what makes a dialogue tag? There are two criteria: it must identify the speaker and describe the dialogue, though it doesn’t always have to be in that particular order. However, the punctuation needed in each case is different, and bad punctuation is one way to appear as a novice writer (as well as annoying any grammar nerds among your readers). This can be quite effective in making a sentence or scene more active. One of the modern style choices we have is substituting character actions for dialogue tags. Is there a simple explanation you can give me?Īnswer: There is a simple explanation, but it’s not a short one. I’ve read up on the subject but I’m still kind of confused. My problem: it seems like everyone has a different way of punctuating dialogue, and I’m at a loss to figure out what’s right. I’ve been reading a lot lately, and I also do beta-reading for some of my writer friends. I was glad to get the question, because it’s also a pet peeve of mine. Last week I got an e-mail from a reader about punctuating dialogue. ![]()
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