|
Dialogue Rules
Creative dialogue is what makes reading so much fun. This article focuses on dialogue
rules, tips, and techniques and dialogue rules.
Dialogue Rules, Tips and Techniques
 In the beginning of a conversation, you can use tags to identify who is talking. Once the reader knows who's speaking no tag is necessary. For example:
"I searched through his room. Not knowing exactly what I was looking for," said Melinda.
"Did you find anything?," asked Brit, nervous that Melinda found incriminating pictures.
"I turned that room upside down and nothing."
"Maybe you were overreacting."
"Maybe...but I still feel uneasy."
Notice how in the middle of the dialogue identifying tags weren't necessary to follow the conversation.
Constant
"he said" "she said" makes the writing look
amateurish. For example:
"All I did was to tell the truth," Matt said.
"She didn't take it well," his mother said.
"No. She cried all night," Matt said.
Trust the reader to know what your character is feeling. For example, the following dialogue doesn't require a dialogue tag such as
she yelled. Everyone understands the character is upset:
Amanda threw a coffee up at Tim. "I never want to see you again!"
If
you decide to use a dialogue tag, don't add adverbs after said. For
example:
"I never want to see you again!" Amanda said angrily.
As much as you can, limit your tags to
said. After a while, said becomes invisible to readers. When you use other tags, the reader can be taken out of the story. When you need to use another tag line, here are a few suggestions: begged, complained, confessed, cried, laughed, chuckled, giggled, replied, muttered.
To
insert a tag in the middle of dialogue, the first word after the tag
isn't capitalized. In addition, there is a comma after the tag.
"No," she
said, "I will not go on a date with you."
|
