Dialogue Tags Are Awesome
Dialogue tags. Sometimes it seems like everyone wants to do away with them. But me? I love dialogue tags. Let me count the ways:
- Dialogue tags offer clarity! Which is handy, especially when characters are tricksy, many in number, or not yet established. (Or when you’re not Hemingway.*)
- The placement of dialogue tags—and the stuff that goes with them—affects the way we interpret the dialogue! (See relevant post by Patrick Rothfuss here.)
- The restrained use of always-controversial alternative dialogue tags and adverbs can actually be a force of good (not evil!), giving us a cleaner understanding of subtle text. (They can also be evil.)
- Dialogue tags help me remember the most convoluted of character names. (Looking at you, six-syllable, all-consonant dragon names.)
- You can use dialogue tags to alter the flow in a pleasing manner.
- “Damn, you know what’s ruining this book? Dialogue tags. Cut those babies and it’s good to go,” said nobody, ever. (Except now, somebody probably just did.)
- Did I mention clarity? (’Cause it’s awesome. Just saying…)
*Okay, that’s a myth. Hemingway totally used dialogue tags–even alternative ones and the occasional adverb! But he also did totally engage in some long spates of tagless dialogue.