“How should I handle dialogue tags in my story?” she asked sweetly.
Dialogue tags do good and necessary things. They help readers keep it straight in their minds who is speaking, thus reducing confusion and getting lost in the dialogue. The problem with dialogue tags is when they’re overused. Keeping them to a minimum is the key. With many writing issues, overuse is the problem rather than a ‘never do this’ rule. This is true with dialogue tags.
Tags aren’t the only way to cue readers as to who is speaking. There are several ways to do this. Many newer writers haven't mastered all the different methods to do this, so they rely too heavily on tags.
Tags have some inherent negatives, so overuse amplifies those negatives. When used sparingly and intermixed with other types of cues, those negatives are minimized and don’t attract attention to themselves, which interrupts the story in the reader’s mind.
What’s wrong with my dialogue tags?
Consta…
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