Dialogue tags

I suspect for anyone who’s not an author those two words don’t mean a lot. It was one of the first ‘lessons’ I had in how to write. When you HAVE to attribute speech, try to use ‘said’ or ‘asked’ and avoid everything else. The reason being that ‘said’ blends in so well, you don’t notice it, it doesn’t draw you out of the story. Whereas – he crooned silkily – does!

So – that’s what new authors learn – be careful with your tags. People can’t laugh their dialogue or sob it.

“That’s my dog,” he laughed. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

“That’s my wife,” he crooned silkily. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Does that mean dialogue tag rules are followed? No. Do readers care? Probably not unless they’re overdone. The ones most likely to wail about them are other authors.

The book I’m reading at the moment- author’s fourth book with a big publisher – Harpers.

in the first few pages – dialogue tags as follows -

he answered

he accused

he pleaded

he argued

he insisted

he declared

she moaned

he warned

she reminded

he exclaimed

After flicking through those first few pages, I don’t think I spotted ‘said’, she said with a laugh.

So if any readers are reading – does it matter? Do you care about dialogue tags?