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Troubadour
I see a consistent opinion that speech tags are Bad News, but honestly I don't really understand why. I agree that they can be avoided when it's clear who's talking--like in a two-person conversation--but personally I opt for more tags rather than fewer.
I've never read a book and thought to myself "man, all these speech tags are really annoying!" They are a part of writing that tends to fade out of the reader's perception. You read over them and know who's talking, but they often don't really register consciously the way that the actual dialogue does.
I have, however, often read a book and thought to myself "man, this is the third time I've read this section and I still don't know who's talking." And that does take me out of the story. It's profoundly annoying, and in the worst case it confuses me about important plot or character details.
Unless you're Cormac McCarthy, I don't really understand why it's worth the effort to purge these from your writing. It seems like something that would only be merited by an attempt at literary prose in a style that was purposefully sparse. Considering that most of us wouldn't consider our works "literature," and aren't written in that style, it seems weird to prioritize a style point that often detracts from the mechanics of reading the book. The benefit must be greater than that cost of clarity. I don't see that being possible unless your specific voice is complemented by such a thing. It does not seem like blanket advice for all writers, to me.
My rules:
I'm fine excluding tags in two-person conversations after establishing the speakers:
"Blah blah" X said
"Yadda Yadda" Y said
"Blah blah blah"
"Yadda yadda yadda"
For three-or-more person conversations, I use tags unless there is something in the dialogue that is obviously and only identifying of the speaker.
"Blah blah" X said
"Yadda yadda" Y said
"Derp herp" Z said
"Yadda yadda [thing only Y would say]"
"Blah blah blah" X said
If there is a break in dialogue, even two-person conversations, then I resume tagging.
...
"Blah blah"
"Derp derp"
He gazed longly into her eyes as she derped and herped, and felt as if she only derped for him, as if she could only derp for him. She had herps for no one else.
"Herp derp!" Z said.
I've never received complaints for this.
I've never read a book and thought to myself "man, all these speech tags are really annoying!" They are a part of writing that tends to fade out of the reader's perception. You read over them and know who's talking, but they often don't really register consciously the way that the actual dialogue does.
I have, however, often read a book and thought to myself "man, this is the third time I've read this section and I still don't know who's talking." And that does take me out of the story. It's profoundly annoying, and in the worst case it confuses me about important plot or character details.
Unless you're Cormac McCarthy, I don't really understand why it's worth the effort to purge these from your writing. It seems like something that would only be merited by an attempt at literary prose in a style that was purposefully sparse. Considering that most of us wouldn't consider our works "literature," and aren't written in that style, it seems weird to prioritize a style point that often detracts from the mechanics of reading the book. The benefit must be greater than that cost of clarity. I don't see that being possible unless your specific voice is complemented by such a thing. It does not seem like blanket advice for all writers, to me.
My rules:
I'm fine excluding tags in two-person conversations after establishing the speakers:
"Blah blah" X said
"Yadda Yadda" Y said
"Blah blah blah"
"Yadda yadda yadda"
For three-or-more person conversations, I use tags unless there is something in the dialogue that is obviously and only identifying of the speaker.
"Blah blah" X said
"Yadda yadda" Y said
"Derp herp" Z said
"Yadda yadda [thing only Y would say]"
"Blah blah blah" X said
If there is a break in dialogue, even two-person conversations, then I resume tagging.
...
"Blah blah"
"Derp derp"
He gazed longly into her eyes as she derped and herped, and felt as if she only derped for him, as if she could only derp for him. She had herps for no one else.
"Herp derp!" Z said.
I've never received complaints for this.
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