Dialogue Tag or Action Beat?
What is the difference between a dialogue tag and an action beat? Why do they matter and why should we know how to format them?
Dialogue tags help your reader understand what is happening on the page and determine who is saying what. When a dialogue tag is improperly formatted, it could confuse the reader. They might not be sure of who has said what, when the speaker has paused or finished, or the meaning could even be lost. Words commonly associated with dialogue tags include: said, whispered, yelled, shouted, told, and replied. Dialogue tags do NOT include words like smile, laugh, and frown. This is because we do not smile out our words, but we can say them with one of these expressions: “You threw an excellent party,” Finley said with a smile.
But dialogue tags on their own may read as boring. Imagine a page of two characters speaking back and forth with only “he said” or “she said” included. Is it easy to envision the characters and what they’re doing, how they’re feeling or reacting? If the answer to that question is no and the author feels that this is imperative to the story or the scene, we can then look at adding an action beat.
Action beats or action tags are exactly what they sound like: actions performed by a character. Unlike dialogue tags, ending punctuation separates them from the dialogue. Why? Simply put, an action tag or beat is a separate sentence. One does not have to speak in order to smile, hug a friend, or perform any other action:
“I’m glad you came.” Finley hugged Arthur.
But if we already know who is speaking, what do action tags add to the dialogue? Action tags give the reader a stronger visual, such as in the example above. Without the action tag, we would have known Finley greeted Arthur but not that she also hugged him. What would the reader have imagined them doing without the action tag? Smiling at one another? Shaking hands? Maybe they would have imagined the characters doing nothing at all.
Action tags can also create a stronger or more emotive scene by hinting at how a character is feeling without needing to tell the reader Character A is mad, happy, and so on.
Take a look at how adding an action tag below does just that:
“I can’t believe you did that,” Finley said. Here we have only used a dialogue tag. We know Finley is the one speaking, but what if the author wants the reader to know Finley is enraged when she says this?
“I can’t believe you did that.” Finley grabbed Arthur’s phone and threw it across the room.
But how do we format these tags? Think of dialogue tags as being associated with movement of the mouth or any other way of conveying speech. We use punctuation to indicate the character is speaking/signing/telepathically communicating, the comma linking what is said to the one speaking. The speech is connected to the character, in most cases, with a comma:
“I love it,” Finley said.
When ending punctuation besides a period is used, the comma is replaced by that terminal point:
“I love it!” Finley said.
“I love it?” Finley said.
If we replace Finley’s name with a pronoun, notice that “she” is not capitalized like it would be at the start of a sentence, indicating this is a continuation of the dialogue tag and not a new line:
“I love it!” she said.
“I love it?” she said.
What if Finley is interrupted before she finishes her sentence?
“I cannot believe”—Finley jabbed a finger in Arthur’s direction—“you did that!” Note that this is an em dash, not an en dash (the shorter of the two little lines). The formatting changes if we include a dialogue tag during her interrupted speech:
“I cannot believe,” Finley hissed as she jabbed a finger in Arthur’s direction, “you did that!”
Maybe Finley had more to say to Arthur but trailed off:
“I cannot believe you did that…” Finley said.
Or perhaps she was interrupted by a phone call before she could finish:
“I cannot believe you did that—” Finley’s phone rang and the jaunty ringtone cut her off. “Perfect timing,” Arthur muttered.
Do you have questions about formatting or using dialogue tags or action beats? Post them below or feel free to message me!
Very comprehensive. I like the examples. And your writing is clear as glass (the stuff in a house, not the stained stuff in a church). I only came upon your blog today, and now I’m subscribing via my RSS reader. Nice work!