Comments on: Verbs and Dialogue Tags: Or, Stop Smiling Words

By: Chris Lunda

Chris Lunda — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:44:30 +0000

I think the 90% said rule is insane. Good thing JK Rowling didnt read all the expert advice on the raging dialog tag debate. Read the first chapter of her first book. Varied dialogue tags, ly’s everywhere. Even some “non speakable” verbs.

I think ignoring the “new writers should stick to said rule” worked out just fine for her

By: rachelle mae gurion

rachelle mae gurion — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:10:47 +0000

can I ask some example of a dialogue with a past and present verb?

By: Jordan

Jordan — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:04:45 +0000

Unfortunately, no, it’s not fine. Commas can only be used with actual speech verbs.

For more specifics on dialogue punctuation, see point #6 on this post: http://jordanmccollum.com/2010/10/dialogue-bare-essentials/

Thank you for your kinds words and good luck!

By: Al

Al — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:46:33 +0000

You have a wonderful blog, and it has very helpful advice. I do have a question about this topic though: what if what’s included outside the parathesis is an action, but you don’t mean to say anything about what the character is saying? For example:

“Just forget it, Rose,” James shoved his hands into his pocket, “I’ll just do it myself.”

I would think that’s fine because I’m specifying that he’s shoving his hands and not his words.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:52:04 +0000

@David—I think it depends. If we’re in the liar’s POV, and we’ve established what she’s saying isn’t true in a previous scene, a simple dialogue tag does suffice. If we’re not in the liar’s POV (which I think is what you’re going for in the example, but with only pronouns it’s unclear), we’d have to have some pretty conclusive evidence from the POV character to tack on “she lied” in the first place. Also, you always have to be careful of internal commentary on conversation severely slowing the overall flow—how much thinking can we do in the middle of an argument?

The “she lied” example is actually from Janette Rallison’s LDStorymakers presentation.