Day 26 - Dialog Tags

What are Dialog Tags?
Dialog tags are the "he said/she said" (and all the myriad variations) portion of dialog. The tags provide the attribution of dialog to whomever is speaking. They may occur before, after, or in the middle of speech.
 
What Are the Rules for "Proper" Tagging?
I'm going to take a page out of "The Chicago Manual of Style" (CMOS) to talk about the proper construction of dialog tags. However, be aware that what is considered acceptable in writing styles can shift over time. What's proper today doesn't always equate to what is acceptable or what is preferred. Therefore, what I state about dialog tags may not be the most popular stance you find depending on who is presenting the information, what industry they work in, and what year it is. Also worth noting is that I'm writing in the US and there may be stylistic differences for other countries.

The key is consistency. If you use a style that is acceptable as opposed to proper, be sure to be consistent in your usage. Even CMOS will say "always" and "never" have no place in this discussion because there are rare exceptions to all kinds of rules. In general, follow the basic rules outlined below, and if there is some compelling reason to break the rule, just be consistent and break it in every instance.
 
So without further ado, here are the CMOS rules for tagging dialog.

• Direct discourse is traditionally enclosed in quotation marks.
  "I am the boss in my own domain."
  "Says who?"
  "Says me. The boss. I just said, I'm the boss."
  
• If a long speech or soliloquy occupies more than one paragraph, the opening quotation marks are used on each paragraph, but only the last paragraph needs the closing mark.
• When the dialog tag is before the dialog, use a comma.
  I said to the man, "Why are you trying to hurt me?"
  
• When the dialog tag comes after the dialog, use a comma (or another form of punctuation, like a question mark or exclamation point).
  "Because I come from the land of plenty," he said.
  "No way!" I exclaimed.
  "Have you heard of it then?" he asked.
  "Yes, of course," I said.
  
• When the dialog is interrupted, two commas are required and the second portion of the dialog does not need to be capitalized.
  "Well, I suppose," he replied, "most people are in your shoes."
  
• When using an adverb after said, no comma is needed because an adverb modifies the verb (said).
  "I see what you mean," he said slyly.
  
• When using a participle (adjective) after said, a comma is needed because the participle is modifying the subject (he).
  "I wasn't trying to be sneaky," he said, puzzled.
  
• When the dialog tag does not modify the dialog, both should stand alone with periods (or other punctuation such as an exclamation point or question mark).
  "You're crazy." He walked away.
  He smiled. "No way!"
  
  

Emotion Tagging
Okay, there's no real thing called "emotion tagging." It's just a phrase I came up with for when I'm editing. Emotion tagging is when you use an emotion instead of "said" in your dialog tag or when you use an adverb to modify the verb "said" (or its many synonyms). In my humble opinion, you cannot "emote" a sentence out of your mouth. Just try laughing and talking at the same time. Try humming and talking at the same time. Try smiling and talking at the same time. Okay, maybe you can do that one. Maybe you can sob and talk at the same time too. But I vote to eliminate these type of tags. I say, let the emotion be it's own action.
 
Consider this sentence:
"I don't want to leave you," she cried.
 
The question is whether or not she is "crying out" the sentence (which is perfectly acceptable), or whether she is actually crying. If she is crying with tears flowing down her face, why not let that be the action (or "showing" part) of the paragraph or scene. See Day 20 if you want a review of Show or Tell. [link]
 
The sentence, if the character isn't actually "crying out" might be rewritten as:
Tears slid down her cheeks. "I don't want you to leave."
 
Technically, yes, both are acceptable. But the second one, depending on the context may have more impact because the emotion stands on it's own as an action. Consider using stronger writing by eliminating emotion tagging.
 
Overuse/Under-use of Tagging
How many ways can you say "said?" Stated, mimicked, railed. There are literally hundreds of words that can replace the word said in a dialog tag. We've already talked about eliminating the emotion words, but that will still leave a lot of synonyms for said.
 
I see two opinions about using "said" in dialog tags right now. On one side, a group of people are saying don't use said over and over. Mix it up. Use those synonyms. On the other side, and perhaps a bit more popular, people are saying, just use "said." Said disappears from the page when the reader reads, and all those synonyms slow the reader down.
 
I'm in the second camp. My feeling is that dialog tags should be invisible as much as possible. Therefore, you really only need them to clarify who is the speaker or when you want to express an emotion in the most concise was because you don't want to draw the reader out of an action sequence.
 
In the first case, you can help make those saids disappear by not tagging every line of dialog. By only tagging when you absolutely need to, like in lengthy back and forth discussions, the rest of the saids disappear into the background. Just to keep everyone on the same page and understanding who is speaking, throw in the occasional "he said" or "she said."  It also means you don't use the synonym for said unless you want to express a certain emotion in the quickest, most concise way because you don't want to interrupt the flow of dialog.
 
If you use dialog tags with most of your dialog, you are probably over-tagging.
 
If you can't jump right to a section of dialog and tell immediately who is speaking (either because there are no other clues in the dialog, or because too much back and forth has occurred and you've lost track), you are under-tagging.
 
Order of Operation
You thought that was  a math term, didn't you? Ok, you're right, it is, but I also like to use the phrase when talking about dialog tags because there is a proper place for them when you find you need to use them.  The order of operations in writing dialog tags only matters when you aren't using the basic "he said" or "she said." If you want the "he said" tag to be invisible to the reader, put it at the end of the tag.
 
The order is more important when the dialog tag is an action. Does the person laugh, then say something? Or does the person say something, then laugh? Maybe it doesn't matter in some instances, but it will be important in many because it may say something about the person or the emotion they are experiencing based on the action they are performing. In some context, laughing after saying something can be used to disarm an offensive comment or to give a sense of, "I'm just kidding." Laughing before something can mean they are responding to something they saw as funny or outrageous. Laughter can also be used to demean or brush off a comment. The order of operation can be used to provide context in very concise writing.

Exercise: Evaluate Your Method of Dialog Tagging

1. Skim through your story and look for segments of dialog longer than a couple back and forth sentences.
2. Focus in on the method you tend to use for dialog tagging.
3. Use the Dialog Tagging Checklist below to confirm you are comfortable with the tagging style you use, or to improve your tagging style.

 
Dialog Tagging Checklist
Proper dialog tagging format is used throughout the story

• Quotation marks wrap around the quote.
• Speeches longer than one paragraph are offset correctly with leading quotation marks but only the last paragraph has ending quotation marks.
• Dialog followed by "he said" includes a comma not a period and the "he" (or she, it, they) is lower case not capitalized.
• Dialog interrupted by the dialog tag includes two commas.
• No commas before adverbs that follow "said."
• Commas are after "said" when followed by participles (adjectives).
• Non-modifying dialog tags are stand-alone sentences.
  

Long conversations are not over tagged

• Only dialog is tagged for clarity of which character is speaking.
  

Long conversations are not under tagged

• Which character is speaking is clear throughout the conversation
  

Synonyms for "said" are used sparingly

• Look for patterns outside of the basic "he said" or "she said."
• The synonyms do not pull the reader out of the action of the scene. (Improve by removing where possible, or using the innocuous "he/she/it/they said")
• Synonyms are not being used to convey a feeling or emotion.  (Improve with "showing" instead of "telling")
  

Emotions stand on their own

• Emotion tagging has been changed to "showing" to make the emotion stronger. (Exceptions are in high action scenes)

 
DOWNLOAD:  Dialog Tagging Checklist Worksheet
Template Instructions
 
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