Mastering DIALOGUE TAGS in Writing (With Examples!) | Fiction Writing Advice

[@ELECTR0HERMIT]

"I think Brandon did a terrific job with this tutorial" David said.

[@jdaraero]

You missed a comma xD

[@guardrailbiter]

This dude is such a good storyteller that I now _really_ want to know how the rest of that magic show turned out.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Haha another commenter said it reminded them of something the Joker would do

[@guardrailbiter]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty My own extrapolation is that the theater being engulfed in flames would turn out to also be an illusion. The audience might be initially relieved, but soon grows angry. Put simply, no one goes to a magic show with the expectation of fearing for his life. The reader then learns the magician has become disillusioned by the "normal reaction" of audiences to his typical performances. Hence, the "fire in a crowded theater" magic routine.

[@shaymod7858]

yes !

[@01jung]

“This video,” she said pausing for effect, “is the best one out there.”

[@grumpy8670]

I just published the first 8 chapters of my book to get some brutal honesty. I found out as soon as you let people read your stuff you get more honest with yourself. After watching this video I realized my dialogue tags felt off because I was trying to do too much with them. Thanks for helping me yet again

[@BenavolutionArt]

Letting ppl read your stuff is a great way to become objective. I encourage you to continue, and let other book readers chime in too 🤘🏽

[@77Avadon77]

I suggest you let an editor, another experienced writer or trusted close friend read your work, rather than let it out to the public. People can be brutal and unconstructive online, but even more importantly pull you away from your style and intention. I've learned this the hard way. There's very few people who I trust to analyze my writing. You need to find a good writer who wants to help you achieve YOUR goal, not their own.

[@Catratio]

The most important video on KZbin. I learned more from this in 11 minutes than I did in a semester of grammar class.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thrilled to hear it--thanks!

[@peterheyes8552]

I actually wish this tutorial was longer. This was so damn good and well explained. Thank you so much.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks! I cut it down from 15 mins because I didn't want it to drag. Glad it helped!

[@peterheyes8552]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty trust me, it wont be a drag. You should also think about your watch time. The longer your videos the more watch time you get, then youtube will start to push out your videos to a bigger audience because they will see many people are watching your vids for longer.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@peterheyes8552 Good to know. And the Good Vs Bad Dialogue video looks like it's going over 15 mins, so hopefully YT will push this one hard

[@peterheyes8552]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty excellent. Keep up the good work. I have learned so much from you. You are good at teaching

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@peterheyes8552 Thrilled to hear it--thanks!

[@AnotherDuck]

I mostly use the action and description variants. It helps getting away from the white room conversation problem, since it automatically adds something more than just talking.

[@mccama19]

Yeah, the story I'm working on has almost zero dialog tags and has mostly action and description tags. It makes the whole story more lively.

[@timflatus]

I feel much more comfortable about using dialogue tags having watched this! Thanks.

[@Mariobro4]

1:13 I always overstress about using "said" in writing. Thought I would be using too much.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

How comfortable are you with using dialogue tags? Let us know! I know I covered a lot today, so fire away with questions if you have any!

[@SaintSteven67]

I'm working on a novel that involves teens. As a teacher, I know they can talk with each other via texting. In the novel, I have some scenes of dialog of teens texting a conversation. Should I used proper formatting, or text message lingo for that dialog. Right now, I'm using the latter. What say you?

[@WOK12-t4p]

I've gotten so many different answers about this topic. I'm going back and forth between a few beta readers and some like my mixing of dialogue tags and some prefer that use mostly just asks or says. I guess it's personal preference.

[@Killer_Kyng]

One of the best videos I've encountered as a beginning writer.

[@davidaleshire4292]

Loved this one. Your information reinforced what I suspected from simply reading fiction. I do appreciate the clarification; it’s going to help a lot with my first attempt at writing a book. And hopefully the second, and third...

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Haha and fourth and fifth. No shame in that though. Just keep writing and keep taking chances. You’ll grow

[@GabrielHammons]

Hey Brandon, new subcriber here. I know this video is three years old, but I just found it and it was extremely helpful. I have been working on my own book for close to three years and I have never heard this explained before. I have watched a few of your other videos and I have profited from all of them. By the way, Brandon's are usually great authors in my experience so I will definately be picking up one of your books. I have actually never read a horror/thrillor book before. I usually go for young adult fanticy, so yours will be my first introduction to the genre. Thanks again.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Welcome aboard, Gabriel! I'm glad this video helped. Hope you enjoy my books!

[@martinblampied1942]

One of the best "advice to writers" videos I have seen. No bullshit or hype.

[@classicblue]

i recently stumbled on to this channel and have been bingewatching ever since. better late then never. thank you for all these great tips!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks! Glad the videos are helping

[@dev4911]

In her book 'Interpreter of Maladies', writer Jhumpa Lahiri used the verb "hollered" so many times in the dialogue tags of the book's first story (A Temporary Matter) that it put me off and made me avoid reading the story altogether. Her other stories were good btw.

[@calebharrison1432]

This was very helpful. Dialogue tags have often confused me. This cleared up a lot

[@mattiOTX]

Ive heard people say use a bunch of different dialogue tags and the reverse of only use said. I think dialogue tags outside if said should really be if you are trying to have your character express emotion. Tags carry subtext. "I'll kill you" he snarled. Expresses anger in some degree while also allowing the writer to avoid describing facial features or actions like that because it already has subtext.

[@johnhawkins4908]

Thanks for this useful information. Nowadays, communication often occurs with text. How do you write and format text communication?

[@LynwoodPearcy]

Terrific video. You are a very talented teacher. Direct, concise. Thank you!

[@GauravSingh-ku5xy]

Brandon, this is one the most brief and useful videos on storytelling I have come across. You're awesome man.

[@user-i9t9r9ple9]

Your great teacher , one learns fast

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks!

[@TwoRavensMinis]

Thank you! I'm quite new to this writing thing, but I'm enjoying it so far. I just spent 45 minutes writing a little scene, and I really struggled with the dialogue tags. This is going to help me a lot.

[@flingstrike8893]

This video was exactly what I needed right now, thanks so much! Really comprehensive and easy to understand!

[@allenbeck8391]

In the very last example, instead of "...he said, narrowing his eyes at the audience", how about simply going with "...he narrowed his eyes at the audience"? Would that be a cleaner way of doing the same thing or is "he said" necessary in general?

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Both ways work

[@allenbeck8391]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thank you

[@chriswest8389]

Just a susjest. Narrowing is on going. Mo open ended. Narrowed is mo a fun deal. Then again, narrowed is a finishing of the action yes, how ever expectation. " Then he clenched his feet". Mo economical to. Usually it appears, brevity is mo artistic.If U can't otherwise decide, op for simplicity.

[@seadd-talan3751]

Great video as always. I really appreciate the idea about "said" and "asked" being the most commonly used tags. I am constantly trying to come up with other words to give my writing more flavor, and honestly I think I will continue to struggle with that side of me, but now I know I can use these simple words. Quick question though, I am working on my first novel and struggling with all kinds of things, one of which is dialogue between the main character and everyone else, because the main character is a captain of a large military spaceship and every other character is a subordinate including a good friend of his and a woman he is starting to have feelings for. I can't figure out when to have more personal dialogue between these characters because they are fleeing for their lives the whole story. There are some lulls in the action, very long lulls chronologically but not much happens story wise.

[@markmarkel5120]

Very helpful, new writer and didn’t understand how much or little to use a tag. Explain very well thank you

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for watching! Best of luck with your writing!

[@corkandi]

Good advice once again, and the examples help bring your points home. Thanks!

[@pauligrossinoz]

Nice explanation! Thank you! Personally, I never use 'said', I tend to just just have an action tag that helps the reader sense the speaker's attitude or demeanour: The magician flashed a broad grin at the audience. "For my next trick," he began, then his grin became even broader. His eyes twinkled. "I'm going to make those emergency exits disappear!"

[@dev4911]

Is it correct to write "said Jim" instead of "Jim said"? In most of my stories, I have used the verb before the noun in my dialogue tags.

[@scottskinner8130]

Great video, thanks! I absolutely agree with "says" and "asks" for the majority of tags, but what about "replies" instead of "says" when the speaker is answering a question? And what about "remarks" instead of "says" when the speaker's answer is snarky or opinionated? Thanks!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

I’m not a fan of either. Says does the job in both cases

[@n1na102]

I've read a lot where there is a line of dialogue on its own, then in a new paragraph an action is used to show who was speaking. I've struggled to replicate this though.

[@ArtemHahauz-nm7bk]

Thank you so much for this marvelous video and your great job! Despite the fact that I'm an English learner, I want to become a writer. This is the reason I am here! Regards from Ukraine!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad the video helped! Best of luck with your writing journey

[@ArtemHahauz-nm7bk]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty You too! Writing is hard sometimes, right?

[@SpiritedHeart94]

I am definitely a learn-by-example type of person, and dialogue has been one of my worst enemies until now. Balancing POV with multiple main characters (especially during fight scenes) remains my #1 nemesis though. 😫

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Do you stick to one POV per scene? That might help

[@SpiritedHeart94]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yes, but choosing which character to focus on in which scene is a challenge too 😓

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@SpiritedHeart94 Ask yourself which character will face the most conflict in a scene. Also ask who has the most at stake in a particular scene. Usually you want the POV character with the most to gain/lose

[@SpiritedHeart94]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I’ll keep that in mind, but what about situations that affect the group as a whole (likely if the group’s in a potentially-deadly situation together)? How do you decide which character to focus on then? As you can see this is an ordeal & a half for me 😅

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@SpiritedHeart94 Focus on who is most scared or who has the most to lose or who is going to have the most "interesting" approach to solving the problem. Your choice haha

[@Lego_Comander]

Thank you so much for making this tutorial. This will really help with the horror book I'm making.

[@jamesaorrauthor]

This answers so many questions for me.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thrilled to hear it helped!

[@Faithful_teddy]

I’m glad you add examples. It really helpsss

[@epinneyful]

Hi Brandon, Thank you for this video. Do you have a video on spacing? What I mean is When dialogue begins how much to space and at the end of the dialogue how much do we space before continuing.

[@calebperez6071]

this was.....or is very helpful because i'm beginner book writer looking to write my first ever book, but at the moment i'm learning everything i can about....specific writing.....things.

[@praisegodwin7831]

Just found a new writer to follow. Well-done Brandon

[@Gruzbee]

Many times in a scene I'm working on, I have my characters doing things while speaking. So the dialogue comes in as part of some action that's happening. It helps keep the conversation from being two talking heads. I also like to make a game out of seeing how long I can go before I have to repeat he said/they said, maybe throw in some flavor like, They nodded, they shrugged. Using the name of the character is also good, especially when there are more than two persons speaking. If a conversation is happening between two people back and forth, and third person says something, I may use their name in the tag (said Chris, said Claire) to change the focus for the reader who is speaking and when.

[@TheAce707]

Dialogue is my archenemy, and hopefully with this I will be better at it.

[@anttisaksi5735]

Great video! Thank you!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad you liked it!

[@peterheyes8552]

Ohhhhhh. Looking forward to this one. Thanks for preparing my video request for next week. Can't wait for that one as well.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Just recorded it today--should be up on Thursday

[@alexsheckell2162]

This is a great video. He did very well explaining. I will say, though... I've heard over and over that we need to say "said" and "asked" the most, with spare usage of "whispered, shouted," and so on. That's honestly become somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. I would prefer hearing "Sam snorted" or "Sarah laughed" or "Tim grouched." It adds so much flavor, and hearing "said" over and over kinda grates on me. But I know this is stuff editors are looking for, so I am trying to comply with the rules in the book I'm writing, but... I truly don't agree as of right now 😬 oh well. It is what it is

[@mattygunn3852]

Fantastic tutorial as always. Very educational! Thank you Brandon.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks!

[@lanonymous162]

THANK YOU. This is a great informational video. You did well explaining! You're amazing. I can't thank you enough.

[@highlandwildernessstablean3831]

You are very gifted at teaching! Best I've seen in a while. 😁

[@77Avadon77]

Thank you. This helped refresh me.

[@c704710]

8:04 Just a thought. What happens when you're back and forth dialogue spans a page break?

[@federicogiana]

That's the job of the page-layout guy. It'll happen, and it'll happen a lot because you don't know where page breaks will be until you get to the composition phase. You need to know the page size, the margins, the font, the font size, the spacing, etc. You'll probably be asked to shorten or lengthen some periods/lines to fit the pages better.

[@inggogauran7921]

Hey, Mr. Brandon. I'm an aspirant writer, see? This video was very helpful with my manuscript, but I wanna learn how to write a compelling dialogue in first POV. Especially when I write from different person's point of view, so I'm looking forward to a video on how to do this in a compelling way. Thank you very much.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Hey thanks for the request. Can you be a little more clear and specific with your request? Like what would you want to learn from the video? - Writing compelling dialogue in the 1st Person POV? - 3rd person POV as well? (dialogue honestly doesn't change much in 1st vs 3rd Person POV) - Different dialogue voices for different characters? - Anything else?

[@inggogauran7921]

Sorry, I got hyped up last night. But to be clear, I want to learn how to make transitions, like to show that I was from this person's POV jumping to another person's POV. I've tried making diverse accents already and it doesn't seem to work out pretty well for the transitions, and sometimes I have to literally state that it was his/her POV in order to make things clear.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@inggogauran7921 Hmm, is your question more about dialogue or POV jumping? If you have two characters talking (out loud) back and forth, that's dialogue, and the POV doesn't matter. However, if you have a dialogue exchange and you "enter the heads" of the two characters to give us their thoughts, that would be more of a POV thing. Is that what you mean by transitions? Also, have you thought of sticking to one POV per scene? Often that simplifies things and eliminates any potential confusion

[@Finnleigh.Jackson4141]

Very well explained!

[@williambartlett2761]

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, one shouldn't use 'asked' as a dialog tag when the dialog ends with a question mark, because the question mark already identifies the sentence as a question. Using 'asked' as a dialog tag is redundant. I find myself agreeing with the venerable CMS, at least, regarding 'asked' as a dialog tag, but this raises another issue. Using 'said' following a question doesn't feel smooth, although the character spoke the words in the question. Fortunately, you've already provided an alternative. If the character needs a dialog attribution, the writer can use an action, thought, or description tag. Perhaps you could discuss the point of the CMS in another video. "Mom?" Tim licked his dry lips. "Can I go to the magic show?"

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

One thing to consider with asked is audiobooks. When listening to a story, the “asked” tag can add clarity is some cases

[@WilliamReginaldLucas]

Just re-visiting this video after hitting a bit of a dialogue-heavy chapter, it's the first point in the book where there are several people contributing to a conversation and I'm finding that it feels a bit too vague at times without specific tags, but I also don't want to be quoting the person's name every time and weighing the sentences down 🤔 I'm thinking about giving a couple of the characters slightly more distinctive speech styles to see if it helps them bounce off each other more effectively, or perhaps the scene just needs more tension to differentiate the characters, any tips appreciated 😇

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Clarity is most important. Too many tags is always better than confusion

[@AJ-mz9ie]

Excellent video. Will check out all your videos

[@kakyoin5862]

I’ve always been trying to replace said because my teachers all tell me “Said is dead”

[@Guest-pf6uf]

Hi, Good video ! Small question please, which one is better or correct to use in story telling book. A: John was preparing to leave, “will need...” B: John was preparing to leave and he said, “will need...” English isn't my first language, sometimes get confused with structures. Thanks

[@rory_russell]

Awesome video! Thank you, Brandon : )

[@پارساشکروی]

Using the same verbs like 'asked' and 'said' repeatedly in the book could get a bit redundant, don't you think? Is there a way we can mix it up and vary our word choices to keep it more engaging? May I use the name of the characters instead of the verbs? I did it once and so many people liked that.

[@Candy1710-gb7zl]

To grateful to find this video

[@mariejackson3212]

Thank you! Very informative!

[@2003Kamber]

I liked your video. It's very useful. I'm a fiction writer but I write in my native language which is Sindhi. Do you advise to use the same principles of dialogue techniques in another language too. Please let me know. Thanks

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks! And I'm honestly not sure how dialogue works in other languages. Do you know any Sindhi writers you can reach out to?

[@chriswest8389]

I love the sutlty "Tim ASKED."

[@hollymollyann]

Great info! Thank you, it helped a lot.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Sure thing--glad it helped!

[@sourojitbanerjee628]

Thanks Brandon, for this lovely video. It was exactly what I was looking for 👍🏾🙏🏽

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it helped--best of luck with your dialogue!

[@dacudo91]

I would love to find a good alternative to dialogue tags. I don't like them because they are repetitive and if they aren't at the start of the speech then you don't know who's voice to read it in or what tone to use until you have already started reading. I'm not sure if it is expected that the reader will glance at the end of the speech to find out, but I don't think they should be expected to do that. If I solve this by putting Brandon said at the start of all my speech this would get very repetitive. I would be tempted to structure how plays do it but then that would be confusing to hear if the story was being read aloud.

[@izzyaf5584]

Good educational video! I have questions, how about the writer that often use: "While" "With" "as" after the dialogue tag. For example: "He said while embracing her from behind." or "He said with a slight nod" or "He said as he walks toward her" Is this correct or Is it good to use these kinds of things?

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Those are fine as long as you don't overuse them. Use them strategically.

[@NancySherer-t9v]

You do a great job.

[@bangmon1000]

I haven't written anything for awhile, but as you said clarity is so important. I also like dialogue to flow. I get annoyed when a writer has to write a description of what the character is doing in each dialogue tag. And I also don't like when an author has to describe a character in each dialogue tag and uses so many descriptions that I am not sure there is another character added. I guess I should watch more of your videos to see if you cover these subjects.

[@yel6921]

This is helpful. Thanks

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad to hear! Thanks for watching

[@GauravSingh-ku5xy]

Do you have a course on story telling that teaches how to write good stories from start to finish?

[@anastasiabatyr8325]

Thank you so much. I’m editing my book and had no idea that I don’t have to use dialogue tags every time someone speeks 😂 My tekst looks so much better now 🎉

[@nicholaschiazza7926]

If you're going to misspell like that, forget about dialog tags.

[@anastasiabatyr8325]

I'm not writing in English silly 😅

[@davinator968]

Is it different for action, thought, and description tags? You seemed to only put commas before the middle dialogue tag except for the action, thought, description tags, where you used periods. Just curious before I start writing.

[@eliben4066]

Wait… that example with Tim and the magic show is giving me deja vu and nostalgia. It’s not from Bad Hare Day from the Goosebumps series, is it?

[@Zimtbiss1]

I avoid using dialogue tags whenever possible. You can instead write something like: A thoughtful expression was on his face. "I'm not sure I understand." No dialogue tag at all. After mentioning "him" or his name and showing his behaviour, the reader knows that it is this person speaking. I looked something up in a novel by Melanie Rawn. There I noticed that she did not use any dt nor the method I just suggested. In a dialogue between 2 characters, she let them take turns talking. Only when the facial expression or something one of them was doing was relevant she added a dt or a sentence like I suggested. I think using "said", "asked" and "answered" a lot lowers the level, even though they promote the flow of reading.

[@johnparnham5945]

As a middle grade writer I often reverse the tag word order and write said Ariana. I know that you wouldn't write that for adult fiction but for kids, it seems to work better.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

No kidding? I wonder why that is. Probably because younger audiences need to be clued in sooner, I would guess?

[@SaintSteven67]

I am working on a novel that involves teens. Since they often text their conversations, should I use some of their text lingo in the dialog, or spell and format everything properly. I've been using text lingo to give what's going on in their mind - but I wonder which would be better for the overall story.

[@kingjii6969]

If you are writing from a present view in your narrating, do you use says and asks instead of said and asked?

[@ryptoll4801]

Oh, this is a tricky topic for me! In most books that have dialogue, I have issue keeping up with who's saying what, even in the simplest back and forth convos between two characters, unless there's a dialogue tag on literally every line. I dunno why, maybe I just have trouble telling different "voices" apart in text, no matter how obvious it may be to most people. So, me then being a rather anxious writer in regards to this, I add dialogue tags to almost every single line, with only a rare few exceptions, when even I could figure out who says what. Sometimes I get frustrated with all of my dialogue tags, but I know that's preferable to not being able to tell who says what in my own book. (That would make editing really difficult, if not else.) This leads me to often try to spice it up by combining action with dialogue, so that my characters aren't just sitting on their asses doing nothing while talking, hopefully distracting from the endlessly repeating dialogue tags. Of course I make sure their actions aren't pointless, I mean that I try to avoid making scenes that are focused solely or almost solely on conversation to drive the plot forward. Because I think that would look really bad with my frantic dialogue tagging. At the same time though, I wish more writers would be a bit more generous with their dialogue tagging, so that I wouldn't have to spend so much time just figuring out who says what and then feeling like an idiot for not being able to. After hearing so much advice on this kinda stuff in my search to become a better writer, and knowing that not everyone (including writers) are "smart enough" to figure out who says what in a written dialogue... can it be a style choice, for lack of better wording, to have more generous dialogue tagging? Or is it just gonna be extremely annoying for the "smarter" readers out there?

[@smuthy9049]

This video was so good 🎉❤ thabks alot

[@paulmigliozzi9582]

😂great. Does the speaker always preced the verb.?

[@sanalcp561]

Thank you so much.

[@hirokiito5460]

Thank you for this wonderful video. Thoroughly enjoyed ir. A question for you. Is there a reason why you put the action/thought/description tags in the middle of the quote? Would it have different effects, if you had put them before or after the quote?

[@jerrysimpson4603]

"I say a comma is NOT needed after the parentheses (nor later after the word 'adding')" he said, adding "because the quotation marks already indicate the dialog is separate from the dialog tag."

[@JCStorytellerllc]

Thank you

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad the video helped! Thanks for watching

[@Odiex27]

Finally a video I can watch without my glasses on. lol

[@darknightofthesoul7628]

Question: in the example dialogue between mother and son, his first question is followed by the tag, "asked". But,, after his second question, you used the tag, " said". Why didn't you use "asked" again?

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Said is the default tag. You can use “asked” in the case of questions, but isn’t necessary

[@ridleyformk1244]

11:28 Pretty comfortable but I worry that my diaglougr tags could drag the story.

[@TheLonelyCosmonaut]

"I heard somebody got hurt at one of those magic shows." Yeah, 3rd degree burns after the magician set the building on fire. Haha really good video btw

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Haha thanks!

[@stevedimitriou7038]

That was a good video. Sadly, I see it 2 years later :/ I wanted to ask, sometimes I see dialogues using - before the sentence to change speaker. Like: "You saw it with your own eyes" Tim said. -"But what did I see exactly? Seemed like hallucination." When are those used? If ever? Is it an older style of dialogue writing? Also, if tags are used to convey a sentiment or explain a situation, is it considered telling and not showing error? "You saw it with your own eyes" Tim said as he focused into Beth's eyes, waiting to see if she will realize it. "But what did I see exactly?" etc etc

[@LazioCloffen]

“Mom dad can I go to the show Tim asked?” 🤫😂😂😂

[@dylanwolf]

'Fill this form in really quickly,' he said thoughtfully, 'Not real quick, because you are qualifying the verb "to fill" and ADVERBS should be respected; don't incorrectly use an adjective in their place.'

[@rowan404]

Coincidentally, one of my novel’s main characters is named Timothy.

[@PhoenixCrown]

These tags come naturally to me. Grammar has always been easy for me, so I don't get lost in the punctuation, plus I'm a very auditory person, so I hear my dialogue as if someone were actually speaking--and I think this allows me to create good timing. I understand the reason to stick with "said" and "asked" as much as possible. Personally, I like using these as little as possible too. Instead, I prefer showing action or consideration, part of the story outside the dialogue, that implies the speaker. For example, I see stuff like... He said, "That's all, folks," and dropped the microphone. Generally, this would be better as... "That's all, folks." He dropped the microphone. Thanks for another great video!

[@screammyname8167]

This is a common mistake with beginner/new writers, like me. It still bugs me with the usage of dialogue tags. Like Coolen However, she uses “she says” or “he says” rather than “he said” or “she said” which confuses me :((

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

“she says” or “he says” is present tense “he said” or “she said” is past tense. Both can be correct, depending on what tense you're telling your story in.

[@ParaisoFlower]

Late to the party, but i've never known which is correct: "What's up?" he asked. "What's up?" He asked. "What's up," he asked. "What's up?," he asked. I like option c the best, personally, but is it correct?

[@oldtimeycabins]

“Very helpful,” said Wayne.

[@Xobik1]

It's fun because "he said, she said, it said" works really well for english books, but it is not so well used in portuguese, spanish or french books. If you read a portuguese, spanish or french book you will find a lot of writers that like sentences/dialogues like this one: - Hey! - yelleed Brandon while reading a comment on the internet. - This is my channel! Who does this guy think he is to be here giving ideas about books in other languages? - Why are you so angry about it? - replied his roommate as he looked at Brandon' shelf ,full of narrative writing books. - You're a published author, move on. Or, write a book about how to move forward by going backwards after reading comments on the internet and listening to your friend's tummy saying it's time to eat... - Do you want me to write a book about my best friend? - Brandon looked at Ted and opened a huge smile. - It will be an interesting book, for sure... - You can write a book about how hungry your best friend was before he became a komodo dragon! - replied Ted with his hands on his stomach, which was snoring. - Seafood restaurant? Chinese? Lets go!!!

[@WritewithKali]

One way to write dialogue is to think of everything as an important quote. Example. Instead of "Let's go this way," She said Make it a quote. Like someone important said it. example - "We've come this far to give up. Let's keep going." She said. "This path is steep, let's go the other way." "We have to go right. Go that way." " I can't believe you're giving up. The destination is right up the mountain" she said. "I know a shortcut, let's go this way."