I’m not talking about tagging a friend or a celebrity on social media. I’m talking about dialogue tags, those helpful little buggers that show you who is speaking.
Like here:
“How about you try this ancient thinking fruit?” she said.
The dialogue tag is SHE SAID.
Here’s my First DIALOGUE Hint:
Every single dialogue line does not need a dialogue tag. Those babies can survive without them!
So, don’t do this:
“How about you try this ancient thinking fruit?” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘thinking fruit?'” he asked.
“The fruit helps you think,” she said.
“Does it think for you?” he asked. “Because that seems wrong.”
“We must all think for ourselves,” she agreed.
All tags
That reads like a second grade book that you didn’t quite enjoy, right? Not even in second grade.
“How about you try this ancient thinking fruit?” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘thinking fruit?'” he asked.
“The fruit helps you think.”
“Does it think for you? Because that seems wrong.”
“We must all think for ourselves,” she agreed.
Less tags
If you have two people talking you don’t ALWAYS have to tell us who said what. The paragraph indents give us that clue.
Here is my Second DIALOGUE Hint
If you add in the character action instead of the dialogue tag, it can make things zing and change meaning.
“How about you try this ancient thinking fruit?” She held the potato above her head, thrusting it towards the sky.
He took one step backwards, eyeing the spud. Someone had stuck plastic appendages and even eyes and lips into it. “What do you mean, ‘thinking fruit?'”
“The fruit helps you think.” She brought the potato back down to her level and kissed its bright, red lips.
“Does it think for you?” he asked. “Because that seems wrong. Also, potatoes aren’t fruit.”
“We must all think for ourselves.”
Add in some action
That’s it! Two fast tips about dialogue tags. Fastest writing tips ever, right?
Writing News
IN THE WOODS – READ AN EXCERPT, PREORDER NOW!
My next book, IN THE WOODS, appears in July with Steve Wedel. It’s scary and one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Buzz Books for Summer 2019. There’s an excerpt of it there and everything! But even cooler (for me) they’ve deemed it buzz worthy! Buzz worthy seems like an awesome thing to be deemed!
You can preorder this bad boy, which might make it have a sequel. The sequel would be amazing. Believe me, I know. It features caves and monsters and love. Because doesn’t every story?
HEAR MY BOOK BABY (AND MORE) ON PATREON
On February first, I launched my Patreon site where I’m reading chapters (in order) of a never-published teen fantasy novel, releasing deleted scenes and art from some of my more popular books. And so much more. Come hang out with me! Get cool things!
WHAT IS PATREON?
A lot of you might be new to Patreon and not get how it works. That’s totally cool. New things can be scary, but there’s a cool primer HERE that explains how it works. The short of it is this: You give Patreon your paypal or credit card # and they charge you whatever you level you choose at the end of each month. That money supports me sharing my writing and art and podcasts and weirdness with you.
HELP US AND DO AN AWESOME GOOD DEED
Thanks to all of you who keep listening to our weirdness on the DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE podcast as we talk about random thoughts, writing advice and life tips. We’re sorry we laugh so much… sort of. Please share it and subscribe if you can. Please rate and like us if you are feeling kind, because it matters somehow. There’s a new episode every Tuesday!
ART
Image
You can buy some of my art. I paint to help inform my stories and some of the prints are available now. There will be more soon. You can check it out here.
