Fiction Techniques for Non-fiction Writers—Write Dialogue Correctly

I got my start as a freelance writer, primarily publishing non-fiction articles for print and online. And I was prolific, one year I had over 700 articles published. But I’d always thought I’d end up writing novels. Because of that, I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to write fiction. Those years of learning how to tell a good story did more than just prepared me to write fiction, they also enabled me to become a much better non-fiction writer.

In this new series, I’ll be sharing some of these fiction techniques that can also help you improve as a non-fiction writer.

Today I’m going to start by teaching you to Write Dialogue Correctly. As I travel and teach at writing conferences across the country I’m amazed at the number of non-fiction writers who have no idea how to correctly write dialogue. Many non-fiction works include dialogue, and this is one of the basics you must master as you advance your writing career.

Tips and Techniques for Writing Dialogue Correctly

Every time the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph. Those who’ve never written dialogue before often try to follow the standard rules when it comes to paragraphs. All that flies out the window, when you’re writing dialogue.

Example:

Incorrect:

“I can’t stand the way Suzanne drives,” Sheila said. Beth nodded. “Me either. It gives me nightmares to think about riding anywhere with her.”

Correct:

“I can’t stand the way Suzanne drives,” Shelia said.

Beth nodded. “Me either. It gives me nightmares to think about riding anywhere with her.”

Now let’s look at the correct way to punctuate dialogue.

All punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.

Speaker tags (like the word said) are considered part of the sentence and are not capitalized.

Example:

Incorrect:

“What do you want”? She asked.

Correct:

“What do you want?” she asked.

Unless you’re asking a question, the words in quotes end in a comma (as opposed to a period), IF you use a speaker tag. (I’ll explain the difference between a speaker tag and a speaker beat in a moment.)

Example:

Incorrect:

“I can’t believe you did that.” She said.

Correct:

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said.

Tags and Beats

A speaker tag is a description of how the words were spoken and who spoke them, like said and asked.

Example:

“I can’t believe you did that,” said Susan.

It’s important to keep speaker tags simple. Don’t pull out your thesaurus to find synonyms for said. Said, or asked, is almost invisible and the reader just skims over it, uninterrupted. There are two major problems when you use other words instead of said.

First, it’s distracting. The reader hesitates, needing time to apply the correct definition of the tag you used.

Example:

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he prevaricated.

Second, you can easily fall into the trap of telling your story through the tags instead of the dialogue, especially if you add an adverb into the sentence. You want to make sure that the important things happen inside the quotes.

Example:

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered darkly.

A speaker beat is a description of what the character is doing or saying. It’s contained in the same paragraph as the words that are spoken, and this is how the reader knows who’s talking.

Example:

I can’t believe you did that.” Susan crossed her arms and frowned.

A beat or a tag can come before or after the spoken lines. Just be sure it makes sense where you put the beat. Some words are spoken as a reaction to an action, so in that case it wouldn’t make sense for them to precede the action.

Example:

Susan jumped and placed her hand on her chest. “You scared me. I didn’t know you were there.”

A speaker beat can also show us what he character’s feeling, unlike a tag, which just tells us.

Example:

Telling (incorrectly using a speaker tag)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered darkly.

Showing (correctly using a speaker beat)

Simon looked down and dug the toe of his shoe into the dirt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Another Common Mistake

Beginning writers sometimes get confused about whether a short phrase is a speaker beat or a speaker tag. One I see over and over again is she smiled. She smiled is a beat, not a tag. The easiest way to tell the difference is to ask yourself if the can smile (or laugh or whatever) the words. You can’t smile words so you know to punctuate it as a separate sentence.

Example:

Incorrect

“I like you,” Angela smiled.

Correct

“I like you.” Angela smiled.

I’d like to give you a chance to ask questions about dialogue and to share things that irritate you when you read dialogue. Leave your comments in the section below.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie