Great dialogue sounds natural and moves the story forward, but it's the dialogue tags and action beats that make conversations flow smoothly and feel realistic. Master these elements to create dialogue that readers can easily follow and emotionally connect with.
Dialogue Tags: The Basics
Dialogue tags identify who's speaking. The goal is clarity without drawing attention to the tags themselves.
Effective Dialogue Tags
✅ Good Tags
- • said
- • asked
- • whispered
- • shouted
- • replied
❌ Overused Tags
- • exclaimed
- • chortled
- • opined
- • ejaculated
- • pontificated
The Power of "Said"
"Said" is invisible to readers—their brains process it without distraction. Fancy dialogue tags draw attention to themselves and away from the actual dialogue. Use "said" as your default and other tags sparingly.
Action Beats: Showing Character
Action beats are small actions that characters perform while speaking. They serve multiple purposes: identifying speakers, showing emotion, and adding visual elements to dialogue scenes.
Example with beats:
"I don't think that's a good idea." Maria set down her coffee cup and leaned back in her chair. "The risks are too high."
John drummed his fingers on the table. "Sometimes you have to take risks to get ahead."
Balancing Tags and Beats
When to Use Each
- Dialogue tags: When you need simple speaker identification
- Action beats: When you want to show emotion, add pacing, or create atmosphere
- No attribution: When it's clear who's speaking in back-and-forth dialogue
Avoiding Overattribution
You don't need to identify the speaker of every line. In dialogue between two people, you can often go several exchanges without any tags or beats, as long as it's clear who's speaking.
Advanced Dialogue Techniques
Subtext and Indirect Dialogue
Characters don't always say exactly what they mean. Use action beats to show what they're really feeling while they speak around the issue.
"Nice weather we're having." Sarah's knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel. "Perfect day for a drive."
Mike kept his eyes on the speedometer. "Yeah. Perfect."
The subtext: They're both terrified about something they're not discussing directly.
Rhythm and Pacing
Use the placement of tags and beats to control the rhythm of dialogue. Put them at natural pauses or where you want readers to slow down and absorb information.
Common Dialogue Mistakes
- Adverb addiction: "I hate you," she said angrily. (Show anger through action instead)
- Repetitive beats: Characters always nodding, shrugging, or sighing
- Floating dialogue: Long conversations with no sense of place or physicality
- On-the-nose dialogue: Characters saying exactly what they feel
💡 Pro Tip
Read your dialogue aloud to catch awkward rhythms and identify where you need tags or beats for clarity. Use Cordecho's AI to analyze your dialogue for repetitive patterns and suggest more varied action beats that reflect character personality.
Format and Punctuation
Proper formatting helps readers follow dialogue effortlessly. Each speaker gets a new paragraph, and action beats in the same paragraph belong to the speaker of that dialogue.