Astute fiction fans often look first at a novel\u2019s dialogue structure when debating whether or not to read on. It provides instant insights into the writer\u2019s ability and experience. If you want your fiction to vault this hurdle, make sure your dialogue is on firm ground when it comes to punctuation marks, capitalization, and tags. Here\u2019s a look at dialogue\u2019s basic building blocks.<\/p>\n
Spoken words are enclosed in double quotation marks. The first word in every sentence is capitalized. End marks like periods, question and exclamation marks, and the like fall within the end quote. Example:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were such fools, Teddy. It could all have been different.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t behaved the way I did back then?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve told you before. It wasn\u2019t just you!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Set up a new paragraph when the speaker changes. Identify the speaker by using a tag line, such as \u201che said\u201d or \u201cshe said\u201d.<\/p>\n If the tag comes after the spoken text, separate them with a comma at the end of the spoken text, inside the quotes:<\/p>\n \u201cA dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n “How sharper than a serpent\u2019s tooth it is to have a thankless child,\u201d said King Lear.<\/strong><\/p>\n If the tag comes before the spoken words, separate them like this:<\/p>\n Elizabeth Taylor said, \u201cDiamonds are a girl\u2019s best friend.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n If the tag comes in the middle of the sentence, bracket it with commas. The word following the second comma should not be capitalized.<\/p>\n “All right,” Dundy said, “sit down and listen!”<\/strong><\/p>\n If the tag comes between two complete sentences, end the sentence after the tag and then open a new quote:<\/p>\n \u201cI told you before,\u201d he said. \u201cI am not going.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n If using a tag after a question, don\u2019t insert a comma, and keep the question mark inside the quotes. Also, don\u2019t capitalize the tag. It looks like this:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to make him an offer he can\u2019t refuse,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFasten your seat belts. It\u2019s going to be a bumpy flight!\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n She said, \u201cWhat\u2019s in the box?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When a character says a big chunk of text, and you want to tag it with \u201che said\u201d, insert the tag at the first natural pause. For example:<\/p>\n \u201cLike I said a while ago, let me tell you about Tony and me,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had arms as thick as my legs. When he smiled, I shook. When he walked out, I started breathing again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBack in the \u201850s when my dad was a kid growing up in Clairton, near Pittsburgh,\u201d he said, \u201cthere was soot and grime everywhere and the air was gross. \u00a0When the big shots talked about \u2018smoke control,\u2019 nobody knew what they were saying.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Tags may contain only verbs that imply speech. The most common are \u201csaid\u201d, \u201casked\u201d, and \u201creplied\u201d. Stick to them ninety percent of the time. The reader\u2019s eye moves swiftly over these simple words, scarcely noticing them, and so they don\u2019t distract from the story.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t use other verbs, such as \u201csighed\u201d, \u201cthrew up his hands\u201d, etc. as if they were tags. They are action beats, and they have different rules. For example:<\/p>\n WRONG: \u201cI went broke playing the slots,\u201d she sighed.<\/strong><\/p>\n RIGHT: \u201cI went broke playing the slots.\u201d She sighed.<\/strong><\/p>\n As a thumb rule, if the verb is not an obvious synonym of \u201csaid\u201d, treat it as an action beat.<\/p>\n Interrupt dialogue with action. Your characters are actors on a stage; they can\u2019t just sit or stand there. Using action beats that involve verbs other than speaking will get the reader anchored in the scene better, and remind her of the context of space and time.<\/p>\n Action beats, unlike tags, are not separated from dialogue by commas. They may occur before the spoken words, or when the spoken words are finished. For example:<\/p>\n He strode into the kitchen. “Mac and cheese\u00a0again<\/em>?” He turned to his wife. “What is this? A fat and carbo conspiracy?” He waved the meal away.<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Donna Tartt handles a bedside meeting between young Theo and Pippa in her Pulitzer Prize-winning\u00a0The Goldfinch.\u00a0<\/em>Study and learn.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can sit here,\u201d she said to me, shifting over slightly in the bed to make room.<\/strong><\/p>\n After I glanced back at Hobie to make sure it was okay, I sat down gingerly, with one hip, careful not to disturb the dog, who raised his head and glared.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry, he won\u2019t bite. Well, sometimes he bites.\u201d \u00a0She looked at me with drowsy eyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou remember me?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAre we friends?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201dYes,\u201d I said without thinking, and then I glanced back at Hobie, embarrassed I\u2019d lied.<\/strong><\/p>\n Critical readers expect accurate, effective dialogue to be a sharp arrow in the quiver of your writing skills. Begin with a firm foundation first made with small advances. Use quotes, commas and end marks correctly, keep your talking characters on the move, don\u2019t confuse tags with action beats, and you\u2019ll be off and running toward writing sound dialogue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[10,11],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tag Lines<\/h2>\n
Exclamation Points and Question Marks<\/h2>\n
Long Blocks of Speech<\/h2>\n
Various Tags<\/h2>\n
Action Beats<\/h2>\n
Putting it All Together<\/h2>\n
Summing up<\/h2>\n