on grammar and dialogue

vicisse:

i notice one of the most common mistakes surrounding dialogue is how to tag and when not to tag, so this post is to help explain the works.

• what is a dialogue tag?

a dialogue tag implies who is speaking and dictates the action of speaking itself.

“I like you,” she said.

here, she said is the dialogue tag. we know who is saying it and what the action of speaking is. the latter, the action, is important to distinguish, because there are variations that add mood and tone. for example:

“I like you,” she whispered.

something that is simply said is different from something that is whispered. ‘said’ is more general, whereas ‘whispered’ implies talking more softly, more quietly.

now, if you have a dialogue tag, the last sentence in quotes has to be punctuated with a comma set before the end quotation, if and only if it ends in a period. for example:

“I like a lot of things. I like the color blue. I like sunsets. I like you,” she said.

each sentence within the quote is properly punctuated with a period, but because the last sentence is followed by a dialogue tag, the period is then replaced with a comma.

however, if the last sentence is punctuated with either a question mark or an exclamation point, then you leave it be.

“I like a lot of things! I like the color blue! I like sunsets! I like you!” she said.

“You like me?” asked the girl.

if the subject of the dialogue tag (she) is a pronoun or common noun (the girl), make sure you keep the dialogue tag in lowercase.

however, with proper nouns (Mary), keep the capitalization, regardless of the subject placement. for example:

“You like me?” asked Mary.

“You like me?” Mary asked.

typically, the former is the ideal word order, but technically, both are correct.

• what if i want some dialogue to follow after the tag?

that’s fine! if you’re splicing the dialogue between sentences, the punctuation keeps—unless you use the dialogue tag to interrupt a sentence instead. for example:

“Y-You,” stammered Mary, “like me?”

commas are your best friend here. when using the dialogue tag to interrupt a sentence in quotes, you just punctuate with commas, in the first set of quotes and after the dialogue tag, and you’re set.

• do i need a dialogue tag all the time?

not at all! in fact, the writing will feel bland if you use it too much. variety in sentence structure keeps the readers interested.

“I like a lot of things. I like the color blue. I like sunsets,” she said. “I like you.”

Mary smiled. “You like me?”

• do i need to punctuate with commas, like with the other example?

do not. it’s actually a common mistake i see all the time. unless it is a spoken action (said, whispered, screamed, etc.), do not use commas to punctuate the sentence. for example, this sentence—

Mary smiled, “You like me?”

—is not punctuated correctly. you can certainly smile while saying something, but smiling itself doesn’t imply spoken action.

• are there other ways to add variety to my dialogue?

another way to do that is by cutting the dialogue tag out completely. don’t freak out! you don’t have to do this all the time, but if two characters are having a fast back-and-forth, tagging each piece of dialogue might hinder the pace rather than help set it. for example:

“That’s not true,” she said. “I like a lot of things.”

Mary smirked. “Oh, yeah? Name one.”

“I like the color blue.”

“Lame.”

“I like sunsets.”

“Doesn’t everybody?”

“I like you.”

here, i started off with a dialogue tag (and a sentence without the tag), to imply which characters are speaking. that information carries over, and the reader will know who is saying what without you needing to tag every piece of dialogue.

• how do i know when to start a new paragraph for dialogue?

you start a new paragraph every time someone new is speaking, like i just did in the example above. however, there are exceptions.

the first thing we learn about paragraphs is that we start a new one when there’s a change in subject—say, the character has a long speech. the reader will most likely have a hard time getting through a thick chunk of text.

the solution? splitting your paragraph by the change in subject, and quoting them like so:

“I was lost for the longest time. I had no idea what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, and it broke me.” Her voice cracked. “It nearly killed me. I woke up every day feeling so small, so insignificant—nothing more than a speck of dust in the grand scheme of the universe.

“And then, I met you. I met you, and I learned to see beauty in the small things—see beauty in big things too,” she added. “I used to dread waking up every morning. Now, I have a lot of things to look forward to. I like a lot of things. I like the color blue. I like sunsets. I like you.”

the former paragraph doesn’t finish with a quote. this signals that the speaker is not quite finished speaking. however, you do need to begin the next paragraph with a quote, to imply that the same speaker is still speaking. this only applies if the same person is talking in bulk.

aaaaand that said, i think i covered all i wanted to cover on grammar and dialogue! if you have any questions, feel free to drop an ask! i’m always happy to talk with other writers!