Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
Why do they write the sentence speaker later?
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Having the dialogue tag after the dialogue is the standard convention in English, but it is possible to have a dialogue tag before the dialogue to create a more varied reading experience. Dialogue tags can also go in the middle of a sentence."Yeah," Ron whispered, "I borrowed it earlier."
Yeah I know its the convention, I said that, but why? And does it bother you too?
No, it doesn't bother me in the least.Dialogue tags should be almost invisible to the reader; if you constantly swap them around, people notice the tags rather than the dialogue.
I'm good as long as it's not in first person.
Vipul wrote: "I'm new to books and after reading a few, there is something that has been bugging me for the longest time and I want to ask. In all the books (that I know of) the sentence is written first and the..."Doesn't bother me. But I have been a reader for almost my entire life, so this never stands out as odd to me.
It is standard English convention, as Emma rightly said. I feel that English sentences always begin with the stressed element at the start. In a regular sentence, the subject is the key element as it comes at the start. In dialogue sentences, the spoken content is more important than the speaker, hence it gets the main place, though the speak is inserted in between at times (as is also pointed out above) in case the dialogue is too long.
Also, this might be to distinguish novels from plays. In plays, you will always have the speaker mentioned first, as in...
Ron (saying quietly): Yeah, I borrowed it earlier.
You might be overgeneralizing by saying "in all the books (that I know of)." Here, for instance, is a random book opened to a random page: the 1992 paperback edition of "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman, p99-100:“How can it hurt when the point of the weapon is still an inch away from your belly?” Domingo asked.
“I’m anticipating, don’t bother me, let me die unpestered,” He brought the point to his skin, pushed.
Domingo grabbed the knife away. "Someday I won't stop you," he said. "Inigo, set an extra place for supper."
"I was all set to kill myself, truly."
"Enough dramatics."
"What is on the menu for the evening?"
"The usual gruel."
"Inigo, go check and see if there's anything by chance in my carriage outside."
There was always a feast waiting in the carriage.
And after the food and the stories would come the departure, and always, before the departure, would come the request. "We would be partners," Yeste would say. "In Madrid. My name before yours on the sign, of course, but equal partners in all things."
"No."
"All right, your name before mine. You are the greatest sword maker, you deserve to come first."
"Have a good trip back."
"WHY WON'T YOU?"
"Because, my friend Yeste, you are very famous and very rich, and so you should be, because you make wonderful weapons. But you must also make them for any fool who happens along. I am poor, and no one knows me in all the world except you and Inigo, but I do not have to suffer fools."
"You are an artist," Yeste said.
"No. Not yet. A craftsman only. But I dream to be an artist. I pray that someday, if I work with enough care, if I am very very lucky, I will make a weapon that is a work of art. Call me an artist then, and I will answer."
Yeste entered his carriage. Domingo approached the window, whispered: "I remind you only of this: when you get this jeweled, initialed sword, claim it as your own. Tell no one of my involvement."
"Your secret is safe with me."
Embraces and waves. The carriage would leave. And that was the way of life before the six-fingered sword.
Sometimes the quote comes first, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes later. This is pretty normal, if you pay attention. As a writer, it's best to dispense with dialog tags when you can; they are mostly wasted words. Use 'em when they add value. Make every word count. As a reader, enjoy the variety. In well-written and well-edited prose, you shouldn't notice dialog tags at all.
@Robert not notice dialog tags? How are you supposed to know who said the dialog?And in your sample, dialog tags are skipped in the back and forth, I've noticed that too and it makes sense. When two people are talking, you can tell who's saying what after a couple tags but when its needed, its important.
@everyone I don't know, maybe you guys have gotten used to it. Maybe I will too. Thanks for the discussion.
"Yeah, I borrowed it earlier" Ron said quietly.
When you read left to right, you read the sentence first but don't really know who said it. I don't know if its just me but when I read a novel or something, its like a movie playing in my head, but when reading the sentence my brain doesn't know where the dialogue comes from and how, does that make sense, lol? Wouldn't it be better if it was written like
Ron says quietly "Yeah I borrowed it earlier".
Is there a good reason for writing such way?