Craft Choice: Speaker Tag

"I shan't go overboard with speaker tags," she said, "I find them to be horribly dull!"
"Then don't!"  He retorted.
"Oh, I certainly won't!  And when I do use speaker tags, I'll keep it nice and simple and only use 'said' for the communicative verb."

Having just finished rereading Golding's Lord of the Flies, I am left to ponder the usage of speaker tags in fiction.  In this book, lines of dialogue get their own paragraph and are often left without a tag of any kind.  It is the preceding or following paragraph that give us a hint as to who spoke.  Many people, authors and the like, have expressed a desire to minimize speaker tags in writing as a way to keep the story moving along or to limit the temptation to add unnecessary exposition to 's/he said.'  Some people feel quite the opposite and demand a tag on almost every line of dialogue because losing track of who's speaking is more detrimental to your story than a moment of extraneous detail.  Personally I hate not knowing who is talking though sometimes keeping it a bit obscure, such as in Golding's novel, can add to the setting of chaos.  But don't let that be your only element of chaos either.

Then there is the subject of what to use in your speaker tag.  Most Fiction authors agree that 'said' is more than enough, yet, Venice Berry (a very successful author herself) informed my workshop class in Boston that 'said' is fine but can get a little boring after a while.  She encouraged us to reach for other ways to express the verb.  There was a time when I steered clear of 'said' figuring that it was what 'learning writers' used and not the mark of a matured author.  I've been corrected.

What do I do when it comes to speaker tags?  I use them generously and I often fall into the trap of adding exposition right along with it.  And I primarily use 'said' but I am not afraid to change it up when I feel it better expresses how or why the character spoke in the first place.  This is a topic of interest to me and may end up working its way into a critical analysis at some point during this semester.  Just as a casual question: how do you - readers and fellow contributors - typically handle speaker tags?  I'm not asking what you think is best or better or more professional or more likely to get you published.  I'm just curious what works for you at this point in time.  Everyone has a different style and sometimes it helps to know you're not completely alone in your craft choices.

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © 2013

Talking and Listening for Writing

Dialogue can be a challenge.  Stories can seem lame.  The flow of one element into another can feel stagnant and anticlimactic.  There is no magical solution to mend any of these things.  Good writing comes from hard work and lots of revision.  However, there is something really simple that can aide all writers from the aspiring newbies to the old hats, and that is talking to people and listening to people talk.  Pay attention the next time a sage (or quirky) old grandparent tells you the 'I used to walk barefoot in the snow uphill both ways' story.  When out at a restaurant, listen in on the cute lovey-dovey couple sitting a table away.  They might throw out a pet name you've never heard before or make mention of some terribly intimate inside joke that you, as a writer, can speculate upon and imagine up how in the world 'bet your legs on it' makes this couple smile and blush.  Maybe the couple isn't lovey-dovey, maybe they are quiet and cold to each other.  Pay attention to what they say both with words and with their body language.  Use this to fuel your writing.

Go people watching at the mall.  Get daring and strike up a conversation with a random stranger (doesn't have to be a long one) talking about anything!  And, of course, talk to your friends.  The more you talk/listen/observe, the easier it gets to create realistic human interactions within your writing; and the more you learn how your fellow humans operate (from a technical and logistical point of view) the stronger your stories will become.  If you want to write realism then draw upon what reality offers you and if what you want to write the opposite, then use what you've learned as a 'what not to do' reference guide.  The best way to break a rule is to master it and the best way to write what a thing 'is', is to describe what it 'is not.'  People are your greatest resource and, at the risk of sounding unprincipled, I implore you to use them.  This is not meant to be an exercise in investigative reporting or slander; this is meant to further your awareness of the little things that we tend to take for granted.  

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © 2012

Goal Update: Dialogue.

So, yesterday I had my first official workshop in over two years. I was a nervous wreck all week, let me tell you! However, now that it's over and done with, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience with all of you. So this time instead of prompts or philosophical questions regarding craft I'm going to keep it brief.

What I discovered yesterday being on the opposite end of the workshop is first, it is nerve wracking. Second, the readers really know what they are talking about, especially if on the rare occasion you find yourself with a nice group like I did yesterday. They were all so helpful that I was truly surprised. I honestly expected my story to be ripped to shreds, but it wasn't, contrary, all my workshop letters that I received said that they loved it. So why did I want to bring this up here?

Dialogue. That's why. When I applied to join Detangled Writers I filled out a goal list, one of those goals was to work on my dialogue. I have been doing that, and I've been having a lot of fun with it, though it has been a real challenge. However, yesterday I was able to see the fruits of my labor (please forgive the cliche). The feedback I received all had one thing in common, near ten letters all telling me that they were transfixed by my dialogue. There were other problems with the story of course, because it was a fifteen page piece of prose that was mostly dialogue, but it was a fun undertaking, and to have such positive feedback was really enriching.

I'm learning a lot as I write, especially playing with dialogue. One is how fundamental dialogue is to characterization, and how very little things in the spoken word between two characters can do so much! I'm also learning the weaknesses of dialogue. One issue I fell into was that one character dominated the entire conversation, she was an intense character, and it was her function within the story to lead the scene, however she took it too hard, and the readers were finding themselves having a very difficult time sympathizing with her. They wanted more about her, but because of the Point of View (POV) I chose, it was very difficult for them to follow her, because they were hearing everything from another character.

I find it so very interesting how versatile dialogue is, as both a way to keep the story moving forward, but also as a characterization tool, and I am so happy that when I made that goal I stuck with it. I still have much to learn, but a positive workshop response has really helped boost my confidence as a writer.

~ Beth