Dialogue tags: What they are and how to use them

Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal—but it’s also the tool that causes the most anxiety in emerging writers. Keeping your characters’ conversations flowing while injecting expository information, managing each individual voice, avoiding clunky phrasing, and charting a path around “As you know…” type dialogue can feel like… a lot. And then there’s the question of keeping track of who’s talking. This is where dialogue tags come in.

They’re those handy little sentence snippets like “he said” or “she asked” that “tag” the dialogue to the speaker. When they’re used well, they’re practically invisible—which can make them seem a lot less nuanced than they are. In fact, using dialogue tags is a bit of an artform unto itself: too many tags can make your writing feel cluttered; too few, and readers might get lost in the conversation; and don’t even get me started on what verbs you should be using to describe the way in which the dialogue is delivered. (Actually, do get me started on it—I’ll be talking about it below, because it’s important—but if we’re casually chatting in real life, I’m likely to start ranting, is all I’m saying. I have Big Feelings about this topic.)

This post looks at when to use tags, when to mix in action beats, and when you can just let your characters’ words do the heavy lifting. I won’t be covering off rules about punctuation here, because this article by Beth Hill is already the best and most thorough explanation of where the commas go and when to use an em-dash, and I’m not going to try to compete with perfection. But if you’re an emerging writer wondering how to make your dialogue flow naturally and clearly without confusing your readers, this one’s for you.

What are dialogue tags?

At their simplest, dialogue tags are the little phrases that tell us who’s speaking. Think of them as signposts in a conversation: “he said,” “she whispered,” “they shouted.” Their job is to keep things clear so readers aren’t scratching their heads trying to figure out which character just spoke.

The default tag: “said” (and why it’s your friend)

Right. This shouldn’t be controversial, but… here we are. There are some writers—many of whose work I respect enormously—who insist that “said” is the only appropriate verb to use in speech tags.

This is… odd advice, to my mind.

For one thing, what if the speaker’s delivery is in an angry voice, at top volume? “Hollered” is right there; “said” needs to be qualified by at least one adverb in order to convey the same effect. It’s best to avoid the $10 words like “declaimed” and “pondered” and “expounded” (I still remember an otherwise magnificent book I read more that two decades ago which used “chortled” as a dialogue tag)—they’re more likely to knock your reader out of the experience than enhance it—but other than that? I have no idea why writing “he said in a hushed voice” would be preferable to “he whispered” on most occasions.

With that said… “said” is an incredibly versatile little word, and you’ll definitely want to make ample use of it. It’s also basically invisible on the page. I’ve heard it claimed that our eyes and brain treat “said” in the same way as punctuation, though I haven’t been able to find a source to back that up, but it’s definitely true that readers tend to gloss over it, which is exactly what you want—dialogue should flow smoothly without drawing attention to the mechanics behind it.

It might have a reputation for being boring or lazy. It’s certainly not the only dialogue verb in the world. But “said” is a trusty sidekick that keeps your story moving without tripping up the reader, and it’s fine to depend on it as a default.

“‘Said’ is a trusty sidekick that keeps your story moving without tripping up the reader, and it’s fine to depend on it as a default.”

Other dialogue tags are available, though

When to use “said” and when to change things up a bit depends on a variety of factors. Firstly, convenience and brevity should be forefront. Consider:

“I’ll see you hang for that!” he said loudly and angrily; vs
“I’ll see you hang for that!” he shouted.

No contest, surely? The stronger verb (“shouted”) makes the tone and volume much clearer, and it also avoids adding in unnecessary qualifiers.

However, consider also:

“I absolutely hate beetroot,” opined Gary.

“Oh, I couldn’t agree more,” assented Nicola.

“Really?” exclaimed Betty. “But it’s such a pleasant colour!”

Dialogue tags are not the place to go wild with a thesaurus. A little goes a long way: the verb you choose to describe how your character delivers a line shouldn’t draw attention to itself the way these $10 tags above set out to do—and overusing alternatives to “said” can make your writing feel forced or melodramatic. If every line comes with an elaborate tag, it’s going to pull readers out of the scene rather than immerse them.

Using action beats as attribution

Alternatively, you might choose to skip the dialogue tag entirely and use an attribution instead.

A dialogue attribution is an action beat describing what a character is doing either while they speak or immediately before or after they speak. Instead of using a traditional dialogue tag like “he said” or “she asked,” action beats show the speaker’s movements, expressions, or gestures.

This is, honestly, a gift to both writers and readers. Attributions don’t just tell us who is talking: they also add nuance, flavour, texture, and subtext to the words the speaker is saying.

This technique not only attributes dialogue but also adds depth to the scene by providing context and emotion.

“I don’t believe you,” she said; vs
She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

Here, the action beat “She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes” tells us who is speaking and gives us some additional insight into how she feels about the person she’s speaking to. Often, that will correspond cleanly with the nature of the dialogue. But it can also undermine the words the speaker is saying, in some interesting and engaging ways. Consider:

Her eyes flitted uncertainly from one man to the other. “I don’t believe you.” (She’s nervous and the action implies that she might actually believe what’s been said, but prefer to think that it’s untrue.)
She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I don’t believe you.” (She’s indulgent. She and the other speaker have a rapport and likely a bit of history, and she knows they can be a bit of a card.)
She drew herself up to her full height and stared down at him, her eyes cold. “I don’t believe you.” (She’s in a position of power over him, and things are not looking good for the person she doesn’t believe.)

Attributions are a great way to enhance a reader’s understanding of the dynamics of a scene, the characters involved, the tensions between them, and the stakes. They also help pace out a lengthy dialogue exchange—while dialogue is, in itself, an action beat, adding additional action beats around it breaks up long stretches of dialogue and keeps the sequence fresh for the reader.

For an attribution to function at its finest, it should be concise and intimately related to the speaker’s motivation or emotional profile during the exchange. An attribution like “she laughed softly” or “he stared at the floor” is more likely to introduce a small ellipsis—a pause—between two related sentences of dialogue, but the best attributions directly complement the words that the speaker is using. Consider:

“I was just thinking about that the other day.” She laughed softly. “Seems so long ago now.”

The attribution “she laughed softly” is almost a throwaway action here—it adds very little to our understanding of the words she’s saying, but it does instruct the reader to hear the small moment of silence between the first sentence and the second. Alternatively, consider:

“You always were a liar and a cheat.” She laughed softly. “Well, now you’re going to pay the price.”

In this case, “she laughed softly” interacts more robustly with the dialogue it’s attributing, because it sits at odds with the words she’s saying. There’s nothing objectively funny, whimsical, or lighthearted about this line of dialogue—her soft laughter, then, affords the reader additional insight into the speaker’s emotional profile as she says it.

One final tip: it’s usually wise to go sparingly on attributions, or, at the very least, change up the format. This kind of thing gets distracting very quickly for readers:

She laughed softly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see about that.”

He looked at the floor. “I guess we will.”

She hesitated. “But… if you wanted…”

He looked up. “I do. I really do.”

She laughed again, louder this time. “Say what you mean, why don’t you?”

He smiled. “I’m not taking any chances.”

She smiled back. “That’s what I like to hear.”

In a passage like this, in fact, you might want to skip the dialogue tags altogether.

When you can skip dialogue tags altogether

Sometimes, the best way to keep your dialogue flowing smoothly is to leave out dialogue tags completely. This usually works best in scenes with just two characters talking back and forth, where the context makes it crystal clear who’s speaking. Removing tags can speed up the pace, create a sense of immediacy, and make the conversation feel more natural—like overhearing a real chat. It also avoids situations like the passage immediately above, where “said” would feel intrusive, each speaker’s individual lines of dialogue aren’t long enough to introduce variant constructions, and attributions begin to feel intrusive.

This is how it might look in practice:

She laughed softly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see about that.”

“I guess we will.”

“But… if you wanted…”

He looked up. “I do. I really do.”

“Say what you mean, why don’t you?”

He smiled. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

In this short exchange, it’s obvious who’s saying what. They’re taking turns and approaching the same goal from different angles. Adding an attribution or a tag on every line just slows things down, and isn’t actually necessary.

But beware: skipping tags or attributions only works when readers can easily track who’s speaking. If you add more characters or the conversation gets complex, leaving out tags risks leaving readers confused or frustrated.

For example:

She laughed softly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see about that.”

“I guess we will.”

“But… if you wanted…”

He looked up. “I do. I really do.”

“Say what you mean, why don’t you?”

He smiled. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

“Hey, are you guys coming or what?”

“We’re talking here!”

“Yeah, I know you’re talking—”

“How about you give us a chance to finish our conversation?”

“We won’t be long, okay?”

Who’s saying what in the last five lines? It’s hard to tell, and the reader’s about to lose patience. If three or more people are involved without any tags or action beats, it’s super easy to get lost.

This also holds true after a while, by the way, even if you’ve only got two speakers. There’s no hard science behind this figure that I’m about to pull out of the air, but in my experience, around eight lines of untagged/unattributed dialogue is enough time for the reader to lose track of who’s speaking. Throw them a bone with a quick tag or attribution—they probably won’t notice that you’ve helped them out, but they’ll notice if you don’t.

Final thoughts

Honestly? There’s no “right” way to do this (“Though there’s definitely a ‘wrong’ way,” she enunciated, articulated, orated, and vociferated.) To finish up, here are a couple of practical tips to help you get your dialogue tags working as hard as they can for your prose:

Read your dialogue out loud: In a normal speaking voice, too, not a whisper: you need to be able to hear the words. Hearing it helps spot awkwardness or confusion about who’s speaking.
Use tags and beats intentionally: Ask yourself what each tag or action adds—is it clarifying? Setting mood? Or just filling space?
Don’t be afraid to cut: If a tag isn’t necessary, lose it! Less can definitely be more when it comes to dialogue tags.

Remember, dialogue tags are tools—not shackles. They should serve your story, not weigh it down. Play around with different approaches, trust your instincts, and don’t sweat getting it perfect right away. With practice, you’ll get better at knowing when to say “said,” when to show through action… and when silence speaks louder than words.