MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - 9 Easily Preventable Mistakes Writers Make with Dialogue

gmw · 10-04-2012, 08:58 PM

I think that page does a good job, overall. It doesn't insist on "said" (for example), but merely that simple tags are best. It demonstrates quite well that most writing rules are ones of moderation. Not too formal but not too realistic; use action in your dialogue but you don't have to spell everything out - and this makes a useful cross reference with the common advice about adverbs. And then the admission that the author is "guilty" of breaking all these rules - because they are not rules, they are just things to bear in mind. You can get away with some more sophisticated dialogue tags, just don't make a habit of them. You can get away with spelling things out when you think it might be necessary, just try not to do it everywhere. And so on.

10-04-2012, 08:58 PM	#7
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	I think that page does a good job, overall. It doesn't insist on "said" (for example), but merely that simple tags are best. It demonstrates quite well that most writing rules are ones of moderation. Not too formal but not too realistic; use action in your dialogue but you don't have to spell everything out - and this makes a useful cross reference with the common advice about adverbs. And then the admission that the author is "guilty" of breaking all these rules - because they are not rules, they are just things to bear in mind. You can get away with some more sophisticated dialogue tags, just don't make a habit of them. You can get away with spelling things out when you think it might be necessary, just try not to do it everywhere. And so on.