By: A. Beckert
Creating rich
dialogue requires a variety of tools. Action tags and beats turn
dialogue from a flat exchange into a multi-sensory experience. They
incorporate the wide range of human communication by allowing for nonverbal
cues, sensory detail, and indirect characterization during a verbal exchange.
Action Tags
Often defining a
tool is easier when you point out its context. An action tag belongs to the
tool group of dialogue tags.
Dialogue tags
are used to supply necessary information about the line of dialogue, including
who said it, why it was said, how it was said, and sometimes to whom it was
said. These make up for the particular challenge of not actually
seeing the exchange, which would instantly convey these crucial contextual
details.
Descriptive tags
are an expanded dialogue tag. The go-to simple tag is “he said”/”she said”. A
descriptive tag adds some descriptive information, like an adverb (“…,” he
said icily.) or a descriptive phrase (“…,” he said, his expression
distant.). This tag can also describe something about the setting for the
interaction, or some other enlightening detail.
Action tags
expand the dialogue with movement, action, or demonstrative behavior. Swapping
description for action boosts the “show” factor, reducing incidents of simply
“telling” a character’s emotion. Consider how different emotions or internal
processes look from the outside. These often come up as action tags:
“…,” he said,
picking at a scratch on the table.
“…,” she
said, looking him up and down with a sour curl in her frown.
“…,” he sang,
rising up on his toes at the high note.
Unique actions
by a character turn these visual communication cues into valuable
characterization tools too. People have certain ticks, habits, or preferences. What
you show your character doing contributes to a cumulative picture of who they
are. A character who drums their fingers when happy, swipes on their
phone screen like slashing with a sword, or doodles on legal documents has more
color than characters who simply nod, grimace, or smile when they speak. Get
creative.
Action Beats
. . .
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