Making Conversation: Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Strong dialogue is essential when it comes to writing fiction or creative nonfiction. Dialogue moves the plot forward, imparts emotion, connects the reader to the characters, and shows how characters relate to one other. But dialogue can’t stand alone. It needs to be clear who’s saying what, how they’re speaking, and what’s happening around them as they talk. These details—the who, how, and what of dialogue—are established through dialogue tags and action beats.
Dialogue Tags
A dialogue tag tells the reader who’s speaking. It’s the “he said” or “she said” of a conversation.
“Oh, are you still here?” James asked.
“I was just leaving,” Julie said.
Dialogue tags can come before or after dialogue, or even in the middle.
“Oh,” James asked, “are you still here?”
Julie said, “I was just leaving.”
Dialogue tags help the reader keep track of who’s saying what. They’re more a mechanical necessity than a part of the story. As such, you want them to blend into the background so the reader’s attention stays focused on the dialogue itself. In most cases, a simple “said” or “asked” is best, because these words are so common and functional that they’re essentially invisible.
Showy or unusual dialogue tags like stated, intoned, uttered, vocalized, or remarked can distract the reader and pull them out of the story. If the meaning is “said,” just use “said.” This is one place where repetition is okay.
That stated (see what I did there?), there are situations where more descriptive tags are appropriate. If the way a character is speaking isn’t apparent from their words or actions, a more descriptive tag, such as muttered, whispered, or yelled, could be appropriate. And there are other ways to make it clear who’s speaking without repeating “said” in every paragraph. Cue action beats!
Action Beats
Action beats are descriptions of what characters are doing before, while, or after speaking. They are often gestures, movements, or facial expressions.
He touched her shoulder. “Can’t you stay a few more minutes? I wanted to show you something.”
“I do need to get back to Jesse and the kids.” She twisted her gloves in her hands and glanced at the clock above the door. “But they can wait a little longer.”
Action beats are powerful for a few reasons. They:
show who’s speaking, and so can be used in place of dialogue tags
ground the dialogue in the environment, avoiding “talking heads syndrome” (the feeling that the dialogue exists in a void, with no indication of where the characters are or what’s happening around them)
moderate the pace of the dialogue by introducing natural pauses in speech
show the emotions of the characters, adding depth and context to the dialogue
In the exchange above, the action beats show that James and Julie are familiar with each other, that Julie is anxious about the time, and that they’re standing near the door, which has a clock above it. Julie’s action beat also introduces a pause in her speech, allowing her a moment of hesitation before she makes up her mind.
Is it a Tag or a Beat?
A dialogue tag should contain a verb of utterance—in other words, a verb that shows the act of speaking. Said, asked, shouted, mumbled, whispered: they all describe words coming out of your mouth. You can say words, shout words, whisper words, ask words. You cannot smile words, nod words, frown words, or shrug words. Actions like these, which characters might do as they speak, before they speak, or after they speak, but which don’t describe the act of speaking, are action beats.
“Do you remember Jeff, the history professor? He went to Romania last summer.” James frowned. “He didn’t seem like himself when he returned.”
James frowned is an action beat (it describes something James did, not how the words came out of James’s mouth).
“I remember,” Julie whispered. “Wasn’t he ill? I thought he must have picked something up in the mountains.”
Julie whispered is a dialogue tag.
Sounds such as groaning, gasping, or sighing require a little more thought. These can work as dialogue tags for certain short words or phrases, but you have to consider whether the dialogue can really be contained within the sound. For instance, you might be able to groan “Ugh,” gasp “Oh!” or sigh “Hannah,” but try fitting “Oh my god, I can’t believe it’s you!” within a gasp or “This is so lovely. It reminds me of my grandmother’s cottage when I was a girl” within a sigh. It just doesn’t work. It’s difficult to speak through a groan, gasp, sigh, laugh, or other sound, so in most situations, these sounds are best separated from the dialogue and treated as action beats. When in doubt, try sighing, groaning, laughing, or gasping the dialogue out loud to see if it works.
James sighed. “He picked something up, alright. A curse.”
Julie gasped. “You mean he found the tomb? The one he was searching for?”
Why does the distinction matter?
Dialogue tags and action beats relate differently to the dialogue and thus are punctuated differently. Dialogue tags belong in the same sentence as the dialogue (usually separated by a comma, unless the dialogue ends in a question mark or exclamation point), while action beats get their own separate sentences.
“Exactly,” he said. “And like an idiot, he brought a souvenir back with him. An amulet from the tomb.”
“Do you have it here? Is that what you want to show me?” She looked around eagerly.
The placement of the noun and verb in a dialogue tag can be flipped, while in an action beat, they must follow standard sentence order.
“It’s not here in the open,” said James. “It’s upstairs in my office. I want you to take a look and tell me if it means anything to you.”
How Often Should They Be Used?
Dialogue tags should be used just often enough to make it clear who’s speaking. In a conversation between two people, you can go a few lines without identifying the speaker, but you don’t want to go for so long that the reader loses track of who’s saying what. If there are multiple speakers, you may need a dialogue tag or action beat on every line to identify who’s speaking.
The frequency of action beats will impact the pacing of a scene. A relaxed, awkward, or reluctant conversation might be full of action beats and descriptions that show the space between words, while a focused, witty, or intense back-and-forth may only be punctuated by occasional quick action beats for emphasis and grounding.
In upcoming posts I’ll dive deeper into dialogue tags, action beats, and effective dialogue. In the meantime, keep reading! Pay attention to how authors in your genre use dialogue tags and action beats to identify who’s speaking, to show emotion, and to ground the dialogue. Let me know what you notice!
If you’re searching for a line editor, copyeditor, or proofreader who respects your voice and will give your writing the polish it needs before publication, consider working with me! I offer a free sample edit with no strings attached, so you can get an idea for what I do and whether I’m the right fit for your writing. View my services or contact me for more information.