If you’re writing a novel, you’re probably going to include a good bit of dialogue. At least, most of us will. After all, it is one of the cornerstones of character development.
Dialogue is pretty nuanced, though. It doesn’t have a lot of hard and fast rules for grammar because we accept a lot of things in everyday speech that we typically wouldn’t when writing. As such, it can sometimes feel difficult to pin down what is standard, but we do have some closely-kept guidelines for what’s acceptable when it comes to dialog punctuation:
What is a Dialogue Tag?
“I have a lot to do today. I’m headed out now,” Ezra said.
Simply put, a dialogue tag is the “Ezra said.” portion of the piece of dialogue above. Dialogue tags are used to convey who and how the character said something.
Other dialogue tags include asked, insisted, cried, interrupted, considered aloud, screamed, etc. However, 90% of your dialogue tags should be “said.” Other tags are great for adding emphasis to the emotion of the conversation, but in order for your dialogue to feel realistic, you should use the most invisible tags consistently. Let the words your characters say color their emotions instead.
Standard Construction
“I have a lot to do today. I’m headed out now,” Ezra said.
This is standard construction. Begin with a quotation mark, write the words said by your character, finish the final sentence with a comma, quotation mark, dialogue tag, and finally a period. This should be by far the most common dialogue construction in your manuscript to keep readers connected to your characters. Ezra said, “I have a lot to do today. I’m headed out now.”
Or you can choose inverted standard construction. In this case, you start with the dialogue tag completed with a comma, quotation mark, dialogue, and finish with a period and final quotation mark. Though significantly less common than the previous construction, this inverted construction when used sparingly can be poignant particularly in arguments as your character gets the final word.
Questions and Exclamations
“I have a lot to do today!” Ezra yelled.
“Is there anything you want from the store?” Ezra asked.
Questions and exclamations are handled quite similarly. Their respective punctuations replace the typical comma of the final sentence, and then they have a wide variety of dialogue tags that can apply.
Exclamations are something to choose carefully in long form writing. Elmore Leonard once said that writers should only be allotted one exclamation point for every 100,000 words of prose. Though that seems pretty extreme, it’s still very common for me to help my authors select their exclamatory use more carefully. It’s usually best to try to create urgency in the dialogue first before relying upon an indicator at the end of the sentence.
Dialogue with Action
“I have a lot to do today. I’m headed out now,” Ezra said as she pulled on her shoes.
Ezra pulled on her shoes as she said, “I have a lot to do today. I’m headed out now.”
You can place a character’s actions at the front or back of their dialogue similar to the dialogue tag. A couple of sentences can fit here naturally without requiring a new paragraph break. But anything larger should be broken out to keep the dialogue clear and precise for easy reader consumption.
Long Pieces of Dialogue
“I have a lot to do today,” Ezra said. “I’m headed out now. Is there anything you want from the store?”
Placing your dialogue tag after your first phrase or sentence is a best practice when the dialogue will run more than a line or two. It give readers information quickly in a natural pause. Though it is also okay to include action in these between spaces, it is best to limit it to one simple sentence so as not to break up the conversation in a way that feels irregular.
Quick Dialogue – No Tag
“I’m headed out now,” Ezra said. “Is there anything you want from the store?”
“Milk,” Jeffrey said automatically. “And what are those cookies I like?”
“Famous Amos?”
“No, the other ones.”
“The soft ones?”
“Yeah, those.”
“Chewy Chips Ahoy” she said, marking it on her list. “Got it.”
“She said”s and “he said”s can get in the way of the reader experience if they’re taking up a large percentage of the words in dialogue. For quick back and forth dialogue between two characters, establish who is speaking early and then feel free to drop the dialogue tags for a few lines. Don’t let this go on for too long, however, as conversations often have natural pauses occasionally and keeping track can grow weary for readers after a while. A good rule of thumb is anytime it feels natural to put in an action is a good time to include a dialogue tag as well.
Losing your dialogue tags grows more complicated with three or more characters in conversation, but it is not undoable. Having at least one character with a highly recognizable voice can help stabilize the no-tag zone. This can look like a heavy accent, a tick, a word they’re particularly fond of and use regularly, or even something situational like a mouthful of food. And sometimes it doesn’t matter much who is the one speaking. Though difficult, a group conversation can be done in this quick dialogue technique. Just up your number of in-between tags to keep from losing readers completely.
Interrupted Dialogue
“I’m headed out now,” Ezra said. “Is there anything you want from the store?”
“Milk,” Jeffrey said automatically. “And what are those coo—”
“—Chewy Chips Ahoy” she said, walking out the door. “Already on it.”
When you want it to appear as if one character is interrupting another, an em dash does the trick. Place one with a quotation mark at the end of the piece of interrupted dialogue in place of closing punctuation. If they’re being interrupted by another character, open the interrupting dialogue with it as well, following all other rules of dialogue construction.
This is most effectively done when interrupted between syllables in words as it layers conversation naturally and most clearly indicates an interruption, but between words in a phrase also works effectively so long as it doesn’t appear like it could be the end of the sentence.
Internal Thoughts: The Silent Dialogue
I have a lot to get done today, Ezra thought.
Thoughts work similarly to dialogue both in construction and effect. However, instead of surrounding the thought with quotations, you should be italicizing it. Then return to non-italics for your tag and use the word thought to replace said. Other appropriate tags for thoughts can include pondered, speculated, considered, imagined, or believed, but, like said, thought should be used most frequently so as to reduce reader distraction.
It’s true. Your dialogue punctuation is likely to be cleaned up to perfection by your copyeditor or proofreader. It’s something we do every single day. But these kinds of changes can really bring an editor down into the weeds if they are a consistent change that needs made. Having the basics of dialogue construction down will allow your editor to focus their attention on the bigger questions of your dialogue like if it sounds in character or if it communicating clearly. Give your manuscript every advantage by getting your dialogue punctuation down from the start.
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