Compelling books and stories use abundant dialogue. Realistic dialogue adds interest and brings characters to life.

Along with the dialogue itself, writers must indicate who is speaking. This is called a dialogue tag. It’s important to follow standard practice in using dialogue tags, so observe these guidelines:

Put dialogue tags as close to the beginning of the dialogue as reasonably possible

Your readers deserve to know who is doing the speaking. So don’t write:

     “Today I am announcing my resignation. I've had it with this one-horse town and I’m moving to the city,” the mayor said.

It’s easy to break the above dialogue after “resignation,” so do so.

However, the dialogue tag doesn’t go first in sentences. Dialogue comes first, then the tag.

Put dialogue both before and after the tag

Ideally, after a dialogue tag your character will speak some more, like this:

     “I’m angry at my neighbor,” she said. “Her dogs bark all day and night.”

Sometimes, though, your character just doesn’t have any more to say. In those cases, don’t awkwardly break up dialogue. Don't write:

     “I’m angry” she said, “at my neighbor.”

If that’s all your character says then just write:

     “I’m angry at my neighbor,” she said.

Use either dialogue or action tags, but not both

An action tag, as its name implies, is a character doing something—drumming his fingers, for example. If your character is performing an action your readers understand he is also the speaker. So don’t write:

     John stretched and yawned. “Time for bed,” he said.

We know John is speaking because of the action tag. The dialogue tag is unnecessary.

Tell not only who did the speaking, but how they said it

Did they yell? whisper? exclaim? The word you choose is important, because it tells the speaker’s state of mind. Look at these examples:

     “We're all alone tonight,” she whispered.

     “We're all alone tonight,” she screamed.

The phrase “We're all alone tonight” takes on distinctly different tones, depending on the dialogue tag.

Ideally, lead into your dialogue by paraphrasing what the character is about to say

Read news stories for a good example of this concept. A reporter will write:

     Mayor Bill Jones said he opposes any tax increase.

     “Our citizens already pay too much tax,” Jones said. “They don't need to pay any more.”

Break up long blocks of dialogue

Dialogue is valuable, but for variety break it up with action tags. Also, be sure to use enough dialogue tags so the identity of the speaker is clear.

Format dialogue correctly

All the correct dialogue in the above examples is formatted properly, but for more explanation of what dialogue should look like here it is broken down:

     Opening quotation marks

     First part of the dialogue

     A comma

     Closing quotation marks

     Dialogue tag

      A period (The first sentence ends here.)

     Opening quotation marks

     Second part of the dialogue

     A period

     Closing quotation marks

Correctly formatted dialogue, then, looks like this:

     “We have to cut our household budget,” Jane said. “It's either that or we’re going to go bankrupt.”

In American English, the period and comma always go inside the quotation marks. There are no exceptions to that rule.

Dialogue is one of your most useful writing tools. Using it correctly goes a long way in making writing compelling and powerful.