Writing & Editing: A Self-Editor's Handbook

1.2 List of Dialogue Tags

1.2 List of Dialogue Tags 

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     In the first section of this chapter, I spent a lot of time rambling on about speaker/dialogue tags and actions/beats. I was going to add a link to the bottom that consisted of a huge list of dialogue tags, but I quickly gave up trying to find a list that was both correct and thorough, so I decided to compile my own bank of tags. 

     In case you skipped the first section, let me go over a few quick things: 

     First of all, just because there are tons of synonyms for ‘said,’ that doesn’t mean you need to use all of them; many professional editors and critics will slap your wrists for doing this. The only tags you really need are ‘said,’ ‘asked,’ and ‘replied,’ because they’ll become invisible on the page, but occasionally it’s okay to insert a ‘whisper’ or ‘murmur’ for the sake of variation and tone. 

     A speaker tag / dialogue tag is an attribution that comes after dialogue. Its purpose is to let the reader know who said what. 

     An action tag / beat describes what the character does before, during, or after they speak. At the end of this chapter, I’ve included an ongoing list of actions that are often misused as dialogue tags.

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     List of Dialogue Tags 

     Acknowledged     Added     Admitted     Advised     Affirmed

     Agreed     Announced     Answered     Argued     Asserted

     Assured     Asked 

     _____

     Babbled     Barked     Bargained     Bawled     Begged

     Bellowed     Blurted     Blustered     Boasted     Bragged 

     _____

     Called     Chimed     Choked out     Claimed     Commanded

     Commented     Complained     Concurred     Confessed     Continued

     Contributed     Cried     Croaked     Crooned     Crowed 

     _____

     Declared     Demanded     Denied     Described     Dictated 

     Drawled 

     _____

     Emphasized     Exclaimed     Explained     Expressed 

      _____

     Groaned     Growled     Grumbled     Grunted 

     _____

     Hinted     Howled 

     _____

     Implied     Implored     Inquired     Insisted     Instructed

     Interjected     Interrupted 

     _____

     Jabbered     Joshed     Justified 

     _____