Writing Dialogue Tags

[Reinaislost]

Thanks! Things I didn't know.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I'll take
"Things I thought I knew until explained" for 500 Alex.

 

[Story_Marc]

Watch this, En-chan. I'm about to show you the incredibly dangerous battlefield we just stepped into. Its name is "Arcane Punctuation Rules."

First--
The "en dash" should not be used here. You need to use the "em dash." The tumblr example is wrong. Furthermore, they are using an incorrect implementation of the dash.


This should be:
"Sure. But"–Maya pulled out her notebooks–"have you heard anything about the professor teaching this course?"

Note the placement of the dashes. The tumblr example mixed two different implementations.
The dash only goes inside the quotation when someone's dialogue is being iteruppted by independant actions like so:

"This is the way to model photosythesis–"
"What a snooze fest, huh, Maya?"
"–effectively. I recommend you all learn this."

Another example of the same idea.
"This is the way to model photosythesis–"
"Hey, shut up, old man! Maya knows more than you ever could–"
"She knows nothing!"

The first example is what is done when you're incorporating an action within the dialogue. Again, do not mix the implementations. If you need sources, I can give you a list of sites that coorberate what I say... And I come into this battlefield fully ready to get shanked by an even more arcane rule.

The best thing about arcane dashes is that most readers won't notice what's going on.

P.S I'm also a bit sad @Story_Marc hasn't see this thread.

Who says I haven't? ;)

I've just made my stance on the topic clear in a video already.

Well, also have a dialogue one to make, I just haven't yet because I just haven't felt like it yet.

 

[Corty]

That’s worrying. In that case, I don’t think you’re using them as effectively. Here’s an example that doesn’t use dialogue tags at all.

No.

You obviously misunderstood me or did not read all my replies.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

No.

You obviously misunderstood me or did not read all my replies.

You just have to accept the reality that most people aren't going to read every reply. Not saying she didn't, but most people will not.

 

[Corty]

You just have to accept the reality that most people aren't going to read every reply. Not saying she didn't, but most people will not.

I know but if I decide to write a wall of text I tend to read everything related to it before doing so

 

[Reinaislost]

I know but if I decide to write a wall of text I tend to read everything related to it before doing so

I did read the important parts, I think, while skimming the rest. I might be misunderstanding here, but there are two things I noticed:

1. It is difficult to say who is saying what without any tags to indicate that.
2. "Said" and "asked" get repetitive.

Reasons why people tend to use more fancy words and expressions to denote the speaker. I think you guys were also talking about striking a balance or something here.

Sebas_Guzman had already cleared up the writer's consensus thing and consequently the second question, so I answered the first, that you can absolutely write dialogues without using any of them.

PS: It's surgery time, so wish me good luck.

 

[Corty]

@Reinaislost good luck and have a speedy recovery

The first point was about readers complaining that they couldn’t follow the dialogue without adding the tags.

About the second, my statement was that I use synonyms/alternatives/varied descriptions where possible so the above-mentioned readers can follow without complaining and the rest also does not find it repetitive and boring.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

okay look, em-dash is not readily available on most keyboards, okay? So i damn well am gonna use hyphen until i need to clean up a piece for a publishing house.

I use Æ a lot in my works but thats for a specific thing. I also used þ once for a þe olde something a whatsit

i will cry if SH editor auto merges multiple hyphens into emdash or something crazy