Writing effective, compelling dialogue has multiple elements.

Writing effective, compelling dialogue has multiple elements.

Tags (like name tags) identify. A dialogue tag is selection of words following quoted speech (e.g. ‘she said’), identifying who spoke and/or how they spoke. Other words for ‘said’ can indicate:

  • Volume (e.g. yelled, shouted, bellowed, screamed, whispered)
  • Tone or pitch (e.g. shrieked, groaned, squeaked)
  • Emotion (e.g. grumbled, snapped, sneered, begged)

The relation between these components of voice will also be important. It will be strange, as an example, for a character to ‘sneer’ the text since the word ‘sneer’ connotes contempt which is contrary to love‘ I love you.

Considering that you can find countless verbs that will take the place of ‘said,’ in the event you simply find a stronger, more emotive one and make use of that?

Not necessarily. Below are a few strategies for using dialogue tags such as for example said and its particular substitutes well:

1. Use all dialogue tags sparingly

The problem with dialogue tags is they draw focus on the hand that is author’s. The more we read ‘he said’ and ‘she said’, the greater amount of we’re aware of the author creating the dialogue. We see the author attributing who said what – it lays their hand that is guiding bare. Compare these two versions associated with the conversation that is same

“I told you already,” I said, glaring.

“Well I was listening that is n’t was I!” he said.

“Apparently not,” he replied.

Now compare this towards the following:

I glared at him. “I told you already.”

“Well I wasn’t listening, was I!”

For many, it is a question of stylistic preference. Even so, it is hard to argue that the version that is first a lot better than the next. When you look at the second, making glaring an action in place of tethering it to your dialogue gives us a stronger feeling of the characters as acting, fully embodied beings.

Given that it’s clear the glaring first-person ‘I’ is the character speaking at first, we don’t need certainly to add ‘I said’. The potency of the exclamation mark in the second character’s reply makes any dialogue tag showing emotion (e.g. ‘he snapped’) unnecessary. We know it’s a reply from context because it’s on a new line, and responds to what the other said.

Similarly, in the first speaker’s retort, we don’t need a tag telling us his tone (that it’s curt, sarcastic, or hostile). The brevity, the fact it’s only two words, conveys his tone and we can infer the smoothness continues to be mad.

Using tags sparingly allows your reader the pleasure of inferring and imagining. Your reader extends to fill out the blank spaces, prompted more subtly because of the clues you leave (an exclamation mark or a pointed, cross phrase).

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2. Use ‘said’ sparingly, other words for said way more

The word ‘said’, like ‘asked’, gives no personality and colour to a character’s utterance. In conversation between characters, options for said can tell the reader:

  • The in-patient mental or emotional states associated with the conversants
  • Their education of custom writing conflict or ease in the conversation
  • What the relationship is much like between characters (for instance, if one character always snaps during the other this may show that the type is dominanting and perhaps unkind towards the other)

Listed below are dialogue words you should use rather than ‘said’, categorised by the form of emotion or scenario they convey:

Anger:

Shouted, bellowed, yelled, snapped, cautioned, rebuked.

Affection:

Consoled, comforted, reassured, admired, soothed.

Excitement:

Shouted, yelled, babbled, gushed, exclaimed.

Fear:

Whispered, stuttered, stammered, gasped, urged, hissed, babbled, blurted.

Determination:

Declared, insisted, maintained, commanded.

Happiness:

Sighed, murmured, gushed, laughed.

Sadness:

Cried, mumbled, sobbed, sighed, lamented.

Conflict:

Jabbed, sneered, rebuked, hissed, scolded, demanded, threatened, insinuated, spat, glowered.

Getting back together:

Apologised, relented, agreed, reassured, placated, assented.

Amusement

Teased, joked, laughed, chuckled, chortled, sniggered, tittered, guffawed, giggled, roared.

Storytelling:

Related, recounted, continued, emphasized, remembered, recalled, resumed, concluded.

Despite there being a number of other words for said, remember:

  • Way too many could make your dialogue start to feel like a compendium of emotive speech-verbs. Use colourful dialogue tags for emphasis. They’re the salt and spice in dialogue, not the meal that is whole
  • Use dialogue that is emotive for emphasis. For example if everything happens to be placid and a character suddenly gets a fright, here will be a good location for a shriek or a scream
  • One problem we often see in beginners’ dialogue is that all the emotion is crammed into the words themselves together with dialogue tags. Yet the characters feel similar to talking heads in jars. Your characters have bodies, so be afraid to don’t use them. Compare these examples:

    “That’s not that which you said yesterday,” she said, her voice implying she was retreating, withdrawing.

    “Well I hadn’t thought about it yet. The simple truth is now that I’ve had time I see that maybe it is not planning to work out. But let’s not be hasty,” he said, clearly planning to control her retreat, too.

    “That’s not what you said yesterday.” She hesitated, turned and walked towards the window.

    “Well I hadn’t seriously considered it yet.” He stepped closer. “The truth is now that’ I’ve had time I see that maybe it’s not likely to work out. But let’s never be hasty.” He reached off to place a tactile hand on the small of her back.

    Into the second example, the dialogue is interspersed with setting. The way the characters build relationships the setting (the girl turning to face the window, for example) reveals their emotions mid-dialogue. The movement and gesture conveys similar feelings towards the first dialogue example. Yet there’s a clearer feeling of proximity and distance, of two characters dancing around each words that are other’s thoughts and feelings.

    Vary the way you show who’s speaking in your dialogue. Use emotive other words for said to season characters’ conversations. Yet seasoning shouldn’t overpower substance. Utilize the content of what characters say, their movement, body language, pauses, and silences, to generate deeper, more layered exchanges.

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Aug 18, 2019 | Category: Custom Paper Writers | Comments: none