Improve Your Dialogue: Remove Those Adverbial Dialogue Tags

In this post, we will explain what adverbial dialogue tags are and why you should remove them when you write.

P.S. It’s Time To Remove Those Adverbial Dialogue Tags

Do you pepper your dialogue tags with adverbs? Do you have to make your character’s tone clear, just in case the reader didn’t get it from the dialogue? This is not a good habit.

What Are Dialogue Tags?

Dialogue tags tell us when a character is speaking. They are every ‘he said’ and ‘she asked’ in the books you read and write.

They are important, because they tell us who is speaking. Readers do not like to be confused and you do not want them to lose interest and stop reading.

They are also useful when you want to:

1. Break up long pieces of dialogue.
2. Create or cut tension.
3. Insert an action or a reaction.
4. Add body language.
5. Give us an idea of your character’s rhythm of speech.

Good writers make these tags disappear into the story. They do not litter their writing with detracting synonyms for ‘said’, like ‘urged’, ‘whispered’, ‘uttered’, ‘exclaimed’, and ‘grunted’. (I’m even cringing as I write them.) They do use these, but they do so sparingly.

Just as importantly, they stick to ‘said’ and ‘asked’ without over-indulging in adverbial abuse.

What Are Adverbial Dialogue Tags?

Beginner writers love adverbs of manner. They especially love using them in dialogue tags. You’ve seen the fiction filled with those ‘–ly’ adverbs that tell us how we should think or feel instead of allowing the words spoken by the characters, and their actions, to show us what is happening.

An adverbial dialogue tag is when an adverb modifies the verb we use to denote dialogue. For example, ‘he said hastily‘, ‘she said gruffly‘, ‘they asked groggily‘.

Improve Your Dialogue: Remove Those Adverbial Dialogue Tags

When you tell us how somebody says something, you take the power away from their spoken words. If they say something ‘angrily’ or ‘gently’, their body language and emotions become less important because of these ‘telling’ words.

We also tend to concentrate less with padded writing. And adverbs and adjectives are notorious for their ability to clutter up a page.

But, you can use them sometimes…

This does not mean we should avoid adverbial dialogue tags altogether. We can still use them if they offer us an effective way to show an action or an emotion without interrupting the flow of the story. For example, ‘she said curtly’ is better than adding a long sentence that includes actions and body language to show that she is being curt.

So before you write your next ‘warily’, ‘guiltily’, or ‘harshly’, think about whether or not you need it to be there.

Happy writing.

TOP TIP: Learn to write better dialogue with The Dialogue Workbook

 by Amanda Patterson