Breaking the rules – Larry McMurtry’s Last Kind Words Saloon

[David]

Larry McMurtry’s latest (2014) novel, the Last Kind Words Saloon, breaks one of the basic “rules” of writing: keep dialogue tags simple. Here’s a typical caution from Writer’s Digest: “if you need an attribution, use said. If you must use something different for the occasional question, you could throw in “asked” for variety, but not too often.” You’ll hear that same advice in writing workshops. Using tags like “she opined” or “he implored” will mark you as a rank beginner. Warning! Stay away from them.

Yet here comes McMurtry, a famous author with zillions of sold books, tossing off the forbidden dialogue tags like so many shots of whiskey in the saloon of his novel’s title. In the first fifteen pages alone there are no less than eleven questionable dialogue tags, some used repeatedly. Doc Holiday doesn’t merely say, “He might be over at the Orchid fornicating.” He suggested it. “Why would a grown man want to be a dentist anyway?” Wyatt Earp inquired. “What’s the farthest distance you could hit a fat man,” Doc persisted. Other characters like Buffalo Bill, Quannah Parker, Charles Goodnight, the Earp brothers, the Clanton gang, an English lord and their strong-willed wives and consorts—a virtual who’s who of the Wild West—wade in with ten asked, three added, two suggested, inquired, pointed out, and one each of persisted, volunteered, admitted, repeated, protested, told him.

How does McMurtrey get away with this? Humor, I think. I’m not quite sure how or why, but these dialogue tags, along with the actual spoken words, often get a chuckle out of me. Sometimes a laugh out loud. This is a light-hearted book, a quick read, a whimsical look at how some of the most famous people of the 1880’s west might have talked to each other, if they had actually met in places like Long Grass, Obedie, Denver and Tombstone. Not much in the way of plot, but a fun read. And instructive for writers who are tempted to break the rules.

I’d be interested in others’ opinions about this topic.