Using Dialogue Tags
Another rule of thumb for dialogue tags is to use them sparingly and keep them as simple as possible. The more you can rely on the speech of the characters to convey the emotion and reveal who's saying what, the better. In fact, in general, you should use dialogue tags only when it would otherwise be impossible to tell who is speaking or when the context needs clarification.
Keep in mind, however, that you shouldn't be too sparing with dialogue tags. On the one hand, you don't want to be obtrusive or redundant, with tags. In the other hand, you don't want the reader to get confused. You wan to strike a balance between letting the characters actual words carry the weight of the conversation and risking that the reader will lose track of who's saying what.
As my one complainer on Wattpad once said, "You need to stop using said so much in the dialogue tags." The word "said" can only describe so much and when repeated too often becomes bland, boring and redundant.
Even if only two people are talking, a dialogue tag may be necessary later in the conversation, especially if it goes on for a long time and isn't broken up with much action or exposition.
Crime stories, for example, often feature long conversations in which an investigator asks a suspect or witness a long series of questions. Some writers introduce the two characters at the start, then dispense with dialogue tags entirely, assuming that it's clear from the dialogue who's asking questions and who's answering them.
However, even if the writer is careful to distinguish between the two speakers at the start of a long exchange, at times, readers can get confused about who's speaking. In these cases, it's helpful for the writer to include a dialogue tag every few lines as a signpost for readers.
Again, when you use dialogue tags, keep them as simple as possible. Avoid excessive description or explanation. It may be helpful to use a stronger verb or an adverb in some instances, but in general, the dialogue itself should carry as much of the meaning as possible without unnecessary help. "You're a clumsy idiot, said the coach" is probably clear enough without any extra emphasis; "You're a clumsy idiot," said the coach disparagingly" is unnecessary given that the coach is obvious disparaging his listener. And it clutters up the sentence and gives extra length that is not required.
Interweaving Dialogue Tags Within A Narrative.
The most graceful way to write dialogue is not to separate it from the rest of the narrative but to interweave the two. In real life, people don't always stop what they're doing to talk to each other but carry on conversations while doing other things. Further, each participant in real-life conversations. Take note of the other person's facial expressions, gestures and body language. Dialogue usually works best when it is an integral part of a scene that combine thoughts, actions and speech of the characters. -James Hynes.
(That is really how real-life classrooms should work instead of having a teacher do the same old lectures over again and have a teacher assign students to teach one another means opportunity for ample smooth flowing dialogue. Yet stories and real life classrooms still lack this kind of atmosphere unfortunately especially in Math. The best classroom scene I have seen in a show is actually no other than when Princess Isabel from Elena of Avalor joins the science class at the college in Avalor. And it is an active class where students teach each other not just the teacher is the professor everybody gets a turn to try their skills at teaching."
The episode Season 2 episode 12 called Class Act.
We have a moment that mirrors the one in the episode previously exampled when Princess Elena struggled to figure out if she can be just as good as Isabel her sister and her sister's college friend in Season 3 episode 21 Shooting Stars in the song, "Put Your Mind To It."
The younger generation gets to teach Elena that she can become just as good as them at science. Some skill these two young girls wouldn't have their science class had been a boring all day lecture with no pair work requirements. In the other episodes of when Elena and Isabel are alone on an adventure it is usually Elena teaching Isabel it's wonderful to finally see the vice versa side of the teacher-student vibes. -Lumna10. Normaniforever4 they're my favorite episodes they're so out there and not normal focuses. Tv shows and movies can teach us things that should be applied to our real lives sometimes, Skylights.)
Consider dialogue passage from the novel Next, in which the main character, Kevin, an editor from is meeting with Eileen, the professor, who has just become his new boss. In the following bare bones version of this passage, with just the speech and no action or description, it's obvious that Eileen is being imperious and condescending, while Kevin is nervous and defensive.
"I've seen you at the gym." Eileen said.
"Yes," Kevin said.
"I assume that's your lunch hour?"
"Yeah, I play a pickup game with some guys two, three days a week."
"So the game itself lasts, what, forty-five minutes?"
"Maybe a little less."
"So by the time you walk over there, change your clothes, warm up, play the game, shower and walk back to your office-that's what? An hour and a quarter? An hour and a half?"
"Come on, Eileen, I see you at the gym all the time."
"I'm not on the clock. May I call you Kevin?"
"Of course."
"Kevin, you're not salaried like I'm salaried. Do we understand each other?"
"Perfectly."
bok over your budget, and we it nave a tak about it,
soon," said Eileen.
In a more fleshed-out versie bysica parse softe, the dialogue is integrated with the setting, the psychical presence of the two characters, and Kevin's thoughts as Eileen dresses him down. Again, the exchange begins as follows:
"T've seen you at the gym," she said, still standing.
"Yes." Kevin brightened —she remembers me!
With just a bit more description of the action and a glimpse into Kevin's thoughts, even these two lines give us subtle cues that the conversation won't end well: The fact that Eileen remains standing should be a warning sign for Kevin, but he misreads her mood and "brightens," thinking that she remembers him from the gym. He obviously didn't expect her to remember him but thinks the fact that they both use the gym might serve as common ground between them.
As the second version progresses, we learn, through some simple details, that Eileen can be cold, at least with a subordinate: She speaks with "icy politesse," and she looks at Kevin with "glacially blue eyes." We also infer that she has little respect for Kevin from the fact that she continues to sort through the carpet swatches for her new office while she talks to him. Indeed, her gestures act as a counterpoint to the dialogue, showing her physically judging something as she verbally judges Kevin.
We learn more about Kevin in the second version. Because the novel is told from his point of view, we have access to Kevin's thoughts, and as the dialogue progresses, we don't have to infer his growing anxiety about his meeting with his new boss, but we can see it happening in real time. The dialogue and Kevin's internal monologue reinforce each other.
In the first version, wetseche dialogue alone, we are witnessing a conversation, but spoint second version, we are participating in it, a least from Kevin's point of view. We feel that he starts to feel smaller under Eileen's icy gaze, anate feel him vibrating with repressed rage as he leaves the office. That effect is the result of interweaving the dialogue with visual cues, physical sensations, and access to at least one character's thoughts. -James Hynes.
Suggested Reads
The Sound and The Fury by Faulkner
Next by Hynes
Blood, Meridian by McCarthy
_______, The Road
Writing Prompt
Write out a dialogue, perhaps half a page or a page, between two people who are at cross purposes to each other: one is in love and the other isn't, for example, or one wants something that the other doesn't want to give up. In the first version, write the dialogue like a play, with no dialogue tags or even the names of the characters-just the dialogue itself. Then, add layers to that initial dialogue. Try a version with basic dialogue tags, then a version with slightly more descriptive dialogue tags, then a version with some action and physical description, then a version with access to the characters' thoughts, and so on. Each version will likely have a very different effect. Depending on what effect you prefer, choose the version that you think is best.