It has become common writing knowledge that “said” is the way to go when it comes to clarifying who is speaking in our writing. We know that “he vociferated” is not gonna fly for the reader, right?
“Said” is a funny thing. It is necessary telling used for clarification. So yes, stick with “said”.
But why?
It’s become the standard which means that all novels use it and all readers have gotten so used to it that it has become invisible. The unobtrusive “said” is a better choice than even “she asked” or “he whispered”.
Dialogue tags are a form telling and too much telling can pull your reader from the story, so if your reader needs to know that George is whispering, go ahead and use that tag sparingly, or if the narrative voice calls for it, opt for a descriptive ‘“Really?” George’s voice sounded like a gorilla with a head cold when he tried to talk quietly.’
Do you always need a tag? Write dialogue with character voice so tags are less necessary to clarify the speaker. A military officer character should speak so differently than a teenage character that you shouldn’t need to tag who is saying “like, can you even?”.
Keep context in mind. This is often the case for the use of “she answered” or “she asked” or “she questioned”. Context will let the reader know Stacy is answering the question, and the clever use of a question mark after the dialogue will make it very clear that at that moment, with those words, she is asking a question. It probably doesn’t need to be labeled.
These kinds of choices are best made in later editing passes, once the dialogue and the scene is pretty well set. Then you can trust the context and flow of the scene to determine if that tag is truly needed or can be cut.
Level up your dialogue tags with beats
“He said”, “she said”, “they said”. Is the scene too bogged down with these tags, even if used properly? Does it feel repetitive? Boring?
This can become especially true in a long dialogue scenes. Those “saids” can pile up and get in the way of the flow of the writing.
Dialogue beats help do the job of tags: clarifying the speaker, but they can also include extra things into the scene like small actions, movements, internal thoughts, and more.
We are constantly trying to get our writing to do more than one thing for the story. Think about it, if a dialogue scene is only lines of dialogue, that scene will feel very flat and turn into what we call talking heads: two voices in a void.
Dialogue beats add interest and clarity, helping to make scenes fuller and more dynamic.
Let’s take a look at what that could be:
“Did you see her yesterday?” Candace said. “She was like, totally fake.”
“Totally,” Steph said.
“Why can’t she just be, you know, real?” Candace said.
Here we have lines of dialogue with “said” tags. I don’t know about you, but when I read this silently, those “saids” were almost not even there, I read right past them. However when reading this out loud (or if I was listening to the audiobook) a whole dialogue scene with every line labeled “who said what” would get a little grating.
So let’s look at some options for cutting them down:
In this example, the voice is pretty strong, so I could argue that the second “Candace said” isn’t necessary for clarity, especially if she and Steph are the only two speakers in the scene. And their voice (how they sound as they speak) helps indicate what they may look like (if they fulfill the basic stereotype of people who speak like this–Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, anyone?)
But what if we took those tags and made them work a little harder for the story by including description of the character or a small movement from them?
“Did you see her yesterday?” Candace flipped her perfectly highlighted curls while balancing on three-inch platform heels. “She was, like, totally fake.”
“Totally.” Steph nodded while using her phone as a mirror to apply pink lipstick.
Nodding, Candace pulled out a small mirror to fix her own makeup. “Why can’t she just be, you know, real?”
By adding a little action we give the reader something to visualize during the dialogue. Candace or Steph’s name attached to the action makes it clear who is speaking.
As you go back through a dialogue scene from your writing, expand those “saids” into a little action, a little movement or interaction with the setting, and allow your tags to do a little more for your story, keeping those dialogue scenes dynamic and visually stimulating.
Like,Totally.