I wrote a post recently on punctuating dialogue in which I referenced dialogue tags, and I wanted to take some time to explore these in a bit more depth. Let’s kick off with a basic dialogue tags definition. These tags are used to provide a reader with information about who is speaking and how they are speaking. They can be used for clarity, emphasis, humour, or all of the above! Because you can put your dialogue tags in the middle of speech, they can also be used to manipulate the pacing of a bit of speech, or to break up long periods of spoken text. Dialogue tags can be incredibly versatile. They can also, of course, be misused. Today we’re going to look at three key problems that can arise when using dialogue tags, and some possible fixes for each case. Buckle up, we’re starting with a controversial one:

Dialogue tags that aren’t dialogue

“This work is pathetic,” Sophie gestured.
“I tried my best,” Lola grimaced.
“Maybe so,” Tarin scowled, “but we’re still going to have to start this project from scratch.”

I have seen people argue in favour of these kinds of dialogue tags, but a lot of editors and readers take issue with them, because these are not actually ways of speaking. Unless Sophie was using sign language, gesturing doesn’t communicate words. Grimacing is a facial expression, not a mode of speech. You can’t scowl a sentence. There are some nice easy alternatives though!

If you’re attached to the action itself and you want the action and the speech to happen at the same time, you just need to put a proper speech tag in and have your action verb in the present continuous tense:

“This work is pathetic,” Sophie said, gesturing.

(Just be careful with this one, and consider whether it is in fact possible to say whatever your character is saying at the same time as the action you’re describing.)

Another easy fix, if you like the action but don’t need it to happen at the same time as the speech, is to put the action first and finish it with a full stop. This way you’re clearly indicating that the action happened before the speech and not suggesting that the action was the speech.

Lola grimaced. “I tried my best.”

You can have the action come afterwards as well (“I tried my best.” Lola grimaced.) as long as you make the end of the speech the end of the sentence to be clear that what comes next is a separate action, not a dialogue tag.

Alternatively, if you were using the action to communicate a certain mood or a way of speaking but don’t necessarily want to include it specifically, you can just replace your non-dialogue-dialogue-tag with an actual dialogue tag, to convey the same information you were trying to get across before.

“Maybe so,” Tarin retorted, “but we’re still going to have to start this project from scratch.”

Overblown or redundant dialogue tags

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had!” Rose exclaimed.
Eva pleaded, “Slow down, please.”
“There’s no point riding a motorbike slowly,” Rose insisted.

Couple of issues here! For one thing, we’ve got dialogue tags that are telling us the same thing as the dialogue itself, which is the kind of thing you want to avoid—it’s not very interesting, and it creates padding that detracts from the important elements of your story. If you finish a sentence with an exclamation mark, you don’t need to inform the reader that the character ‘exclaimed’ that sentence. A similar thing applies with Eva’s ‘pleading’, where the content of what she’s saying conveys her tone clearly enough without that dialogue tag being necessary.

Another problem is that you just do not need elaborately descriptive dialogue tags after everything any character says. It gets to be too much. You can make things easier on your reader by replacing some (or even most) of your fancy dialogue tags with ‘said’ or ‘asked’, these terms disappear into the background when you’re reading and keep the focus on what the characters are actually saying to each other.

“Hey babe,” Nina called, “did you decide what we’re doing for dinner tonight?”
“Not yet.” Faith said, opening the fridge for a quick look.
“Have we got anything we can cook?” Nina asked.
Faith closed the fridge again with a sigh. “Doesn’t look like it.”

Another two-person exchange, but rather than using a specifically descriptive dialogue tag for each line I switched to mostly said/asked, and tried to raise the interest level slightly by using the dialogue tags in different places—remember, they can go at the beginning, end, or in the middle of your characters’ speech—or using action beats to clarify who was speaking. Probably not the most inspiring character interaction you’ve ever come across, but hopefully that looks a little more natural than some of the examples we’ve seen so far!

Overuse of dialogue tags

“What’s the plan tomorrow?” Rogan asked.
“It’s always my job to come up with a plan,” Leah muttered.
“What was that?” Rogan asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Leah said brightly.
“I was sure you said something,” Rogan said, narrowing his eyes.
“Nothing at all,” Leah insisted. “What do you want to do tomorrow?”

If you just have two people talking to each other, you can probably trust that the reader will be able to keep track for a line or two. You don’t need to constantly remind them whose turn it is to speak. If we take out a couple of the dialogue tags from that exchange, it improves the pacing of the exchange significantly.

“What’s the plan tomorrow?” Rogan asked.
“It’s always my job to come up with a plan,” Leah muttered.
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing!”
“I was sure you said something,” Rogan said, narrowing his eyes.
“Nothing at all. What do you want to do tomorrow?”

Stripping away some of the tags makes the interaction feel more like conversation, without constant interruptions for the reader. You might choose to leave or remove different tags, depending on what aspects of the scene you want to emphasise, but if you find yourself tempted to tag everything I’d recommend you resist that urge. It isn’t necessary for clarity a lot of the time, and it can get in the way of your story.

Those were some quick fixes for dialogue tag issues I see most frequently. What are your pet peeves when it comes to reading dialogue?

I’m also aware that I’m barely scratching the surface here when it comes to things to consider about dialogue tags. Speaking—it’s complicated! Especially writing about speaking.

If there’s anything I’ve said that you disagree with, let me know in the comments. If you found this post helpful, I’d love to know that too! And if you’re looking for help improving your own dialogue, I offer some editing services you might find useful. Just saying…!