Lecture 7: The Mechanics of Dialogue
As we saw in an earlier lecture, fictional people are often more memorable than real people because they are less complicated and more vivid. By the same token, dialogue in fiction can be more vivid and memorable than real speech because it is more focused and coherent than real speech. Further, in fiction, dialogue has a purpose usually to evoke character, advance the plot, or provide exposition while real-life dialogue is often rambling, incoherent, or dull. In this first lecture on dialogue, we'll talk about the mechanics of writing dialogue and some basic techniques for using dialogue tags and for mixing speech, action, and exposition.
Rules of Dialogue
The mechanical rules of dialogue, including frequent paragraph breaks and the use of quotation marks, serve two fundamental purposes: to separate direct quotations by the characters from the rest of the narrative and to clarify for the reader just who is speaking at any given time. Some excellent writers have ignored these conventions in writing dialogue, but in most cases, using nonstandard formats or punctuation for dialogue is not worth the extra effort it requires from the reader to interpret the text.
The first rule for writing dialogue is that all direct quotations should be set apart from the rest of the text by quotation marks, and the second rule is that every time a new character speaks or the speaker changes, that first line of dialogue should be set apart with a paragraph break. Also, the beginning of a direct quotation should always begin with a capital letter.
In its most basic form, a dialogue tag is simply the name of a character or a pronoun standing in for the name, plus some variation of the verb say: "He said," "Bob exclaimed," and so on. The rules for punctuating dialogue tags can be a little tricky. (I set up for you simple rules in the Punctuation editing chapter about this in this book already. It has Punctuation editing in the book already.)
Because the dialogue tag is not part of the actual quotation, it should never be included within the quotation marks.
Ita dialogue tag appears between two complete sentences, then the dialogue tag ends with a period, and the second sentence starts with a capital letter.
Sometimes a dialogue tag comes in the middlr of the quoted sentence when that happens, the first half of the quotation is seeity a comma and a quotation mark, ahe dialogue tag is (agree with the first half.. Don't agree with the following part coming up.) followed with a comma (definitely don't agree with that part, the second comma after dialogue is just excessive accessory) and the slowed half of the sentence begins with a quotation mark and a lowercase letter. (That I do agree with.)
Reasons For Dialogue Tags
In general dialogue tags are necessary for three reasons:
1. To introduce a character who is speaking for the first time.
2. To identify the speakers when two or more people are speaking.
3. Or to get across necessary information or a bit context that isn't clear from the dialogue itself, such as exactly how someone is saying something. Let's look at these three reasons in turn.
A dialogue tag is used when you're introducing a character for the first time or returning to a character at the beginning of a new chapter or scene. However, a dialogue tag may be unnecessary in some situations, such as a scene with a single character who is calling for help. A dialogue tag may also be deferred for dramatic effect, although there's usually the expectation that the speaker will be identified fairly quickly.
The second reason for using dialogue tags is to identify speakers when two or more people are talking. The usual practice here is to identify each speaker with his or her first line of dialogue, though again, there can be exceptions. If you have more than two speakers in a scene, you will have to use more dialogue tags to keep them straight for the reader.
The third use of dialogue tags requires more judgment and skill than the first two is just as essential: using tags to provide some context or nuance that isn't conveyed by the dialogue itself or to clear up an ambiguity.
Consider this simple example: '"I love you,' she said." In most cases, the context for this statement is likely to be clear from the narrative, but it is easy to imagine situations in which that statement could be spoken in multiple ways by a character or understood in multiple ways by the reader.
If you don't want the declaration to be ambiguous, you can clarify it by adding a more descriptive verb or an adverb:
"I love you,' she sobbed"; "I love you,' she said casually." Instead of altering the dialogue tag, you might also italicize one or more of the words in the dialogue to show the speaker's emphasis: "I love you,' she said"; "I love you,' she said."
If you have a conversation between two characters that goes on for less than a page, you can probably get away with identifying the speakers at the beginning and the never mention them again.
Example 1: https://www.wattpad.com/1438875607?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=reading_part_end&wp_uname=Lumna10
This is Chapter 4 of my co author Rainbow mystery book when Daphne talks to Frieda as a reader you have 7 dialogue tags for Daphne's side of the conversation.
Whereas in Chapter 10 the dialogue tag count drops down one.
Man, James Hynes is such a disorganized writing professor this is second writing lecture that significantly jumps around and because it's a thick one I am making it a two parter, Skylights. I reorder the arrangement of three paragraphs after the first one to make it easier to follow. Lol! Come laugh with me about this professor's organization skills. -Lumna10
Next chapter Using Dialogue Tags & Interweaving Dialogue Tags with the Narratives.