Dialogue is essential in narrative fiction because it gives readers the chance to hear what your character sounds like. And it also advances the plot with vivid, memorable, focused, and coherent speeches. To write interesting dialogues, you first need to understand the guidelines which they must follow. And today, we will be looking at those guidelines and how to apply them.

Rules of Dialogue

Rule #1: Paragraph breaks and quotation marks perform two crucial functions: they divide direct quotations by the characters from the rest of the narrative and specify who is speaking at any given time. Good stories that ignore this rule do exist, but pulling it off is difficult. Besides, what is the point of making it hard for readers to interpret your text?

Rule #2: The rules of grammar demand that a quotation mark should separate all direct quotations from the rest of the text, and a direct quotation should always begin with a capital letter. Also, a new paragraph should be used every time a new character speaks or the speaker changes.

Rule #3: A dialogue tag should be used to indicate who is speaking, stating their name or pronoun with a variation of the verb "say." For example, "I am done!" she cried. The dialogue tag should not be inside the quotation marks. 

Rule #4: A dialogue tag may come in the middle of the quoted sentence. When it does, the first part of the quotation ends with a comma, followed by a quotation mark, the dialogue tag, and another comma. Then the second half of the sentence begins with a quotation mark and a lowercase letter. However, a dialogue tag between two quotations ends with a period if both quotations are a complete sentence. And the second quotation would begin with a capital letter.

Importance of Dialogue Tags

A dialogue tag introduces the character speaking for the first time or returning to a character at the beginning of a new chapter or scene. However, a dialogue tag may be different in a scene with a single character and for dramatic effect, provided you make readers fully aware of who is speaking.

Dialogue tags help readers identify who among two or more characters is talking and provide context or nuance not conveyed by the dialogue and clarify any ambiguity. Look at this example, "I am fine," he said. A statement like this can have multiply contexts and nuances. To clear this up, you can write, "I am fine," he lied. "I am fine!" he snapped. Or "I am fine!" he barked. These examples give a detailed meaning to the statement being made and give readers a better understanding of the context.

How to Use Dialogue Tags

Try to use dialogue tags sparingly and keep them as simple as possible. It is best to let the speech itself reveal the person speaking and the tone they are using. You should use dialogue tags only when it would otherwise be difficult to tell who is speaking or when the context needs clarification. However, you need to balance letting the characters’ actual words carry the weight of the conversation and risking the reader losing track of who’s saying what. 

Again, in a long conversation involving two characters, you can use dialogue tags every few lines as a signpost for readers. This would help them to still distinguish who amongst the characters is speaking, in case they start getting confused. 

Also, you should use simple dialogue tags and avoid redundant descriptions or explanations. Some instances may require stronger verbs or adverbs but try as much as possible to make the dialogue bear the weight of the conversation. Consider this example: "I am sick and tired of this BS!" he complained. It is evident from the speech that the speaker is complaining, so the dialogue tag used is unnecessary.