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Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag?
Is it typical to add variation to the words used for a character's name to keep it spicy?Deciding whether to use a dialogue tag or an action tag in a dialogueUsing dashes in writing dialogueMixing dialogue and action tagsAction/dialogue tags: What's the right amount?Gerund OverkillHow do I say that a character said something without resorting to “said Character” every time?Broken up dialog in single paragraphWhen Choosing Labels/titles for Characters instead of their namesWriting “hahaha” versus describing the laugh
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Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag? I am wondering if we can use the names without saying it's a man or a woman, and then making the characters introduce themselves and name themselves before using their names in dialogue tags.
For example:
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!" said John.
What are the various approaches for this? And when should you use them?
creative-writing dialogue naming
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
add a comment |
Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag? I am wondering if we can use the names without saying it's a man or a woman, and then making the characters introduce themselves and name themselves before using their names in dialogue tags.
For example:
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!" said John.
What are the various approaches for this? And when should you use them?
creative-writing dialogue naming
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
add a comment |
Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag? I am wondering if we can use the names without saying it's a man or a woman, and then making the characters introduce themselves and name themselves before using their names in dialogue tags.
For example:
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!" said John.
What are the various approaches for this? And when should you use them?
creative-writing dialogue naming
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag? I am wondering if we can use the names without saying it's a man or a woman, and then making the characters introduce themselves and name themselves before using their names in dialogue tags.
For example:
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!" said John.
What are the various approaches for this? And when should you use them?
creative-writing dialogue naming
creative-writing dialogue naming
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
edited 9 hours ago
Cyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
blackbirdblackbird
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
9735 silver badges17 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
No. Trust your reader's intuition for the obvious. If the first lines of your book read:
"Put that back!" Alicia scolded.
"No! Mine!" Richard said, defiant.
She grabbed the plastic bottle of cough syrup from him, and put it back on the shelf. He started crying.
"Mine!"
"No it isn't."
Reader's aren't stupid, and writing is not a mathematical or scientific proof. They will infer Alicia is an exasperated mother, Richard is a very young child, they are in a grocery store, and you don't have to tell them any of that.
You want to be clear, but you definitely can identify a new speaker without any description and just "blah blah blah," Charname said.
You can even give clues to their appearance by action, instead of telling.
"Let me get that for you," Michael said, easily reaching the top shelf, seeing the young woman was about to climb the shelving to reach it.
"Oh, thank you," Britney said. "Would you mind grabbing another one?"
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
add a comment |
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene.
How you accomplish this is up to you.
That being said, it's a little weird to have "the man" and "John" so close together. So I'd shake it up slightly. An easy way would be to leave off the "said John" tag (that's easy because it's obvious to the reader he's the one talking there).
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!"
You can also play around with the "the man" part.
Matthew walked up to a tall young man with a bright purple tie who
introduced himself as John.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
If you want to obscure the person's name and gender, you can do that too.
Matthew walked up to one of the new interns who was balancing a plate in one
hand and a cup of something steaming in the other.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
No. Trust your reader's intuition for the obvious. If the first lines of your book read:
"Put that back!" Alicia scolded.
"No! Mine!" Richard said, defiant.
She grabbed the plastic bottle of cough syrup from him, and put it back on the shelf. He started crying.
"Mine!"
"No it isn't."
Reader's aren't stupid, and writing is not a mathematical or scientific proof. They will infer Alicia is an exasperated mother, Richard is a very young child, they are in a grocery store, and you don't have to tell them any of that.
You want to be clear, but you definitely can identify a new speaker without any description and just "blah blah blah," Charname said.
You can even give clues to their appearance by action, instead of telling.
"Let me get that for you," Michael said, easily reaching the top shelf, seeing the young woman was about to climb the shelving to reach it.
"Oh, thank you," Britney said. "Would you mind grabbing another one?"
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
add a comment |
No. Trust your reader's intuition for the obvious. If the first lines of your book read:
"Put that back!" Alicia scolded.
"No! Mine!" Richard said, defiant.
She grabbed the plastic bottle of cough syrup from him, and put it back on the shelf. He started crying.
"Mine!"
"No it isn't."
Reader's aren't stupid, and writing is not a mathematical or scientific proof. They will infer Alicia is an exasperated mother, Richard is a very young child, they are in a grocery store, and you don't have to tell them any of that.
You want to be clear, but you definitely can identify a new speaker without any description and just "blah blah blah," Charname said.
You can even give clues to their appearance by action, instead of telling.
"Let me get that for you," Michael said, easily reaching the top shelf, seeing the young woman was about to climb the shelving to reach it.
"Oh, thank you," Britney said. "Would you mind grabbing another one?"
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
add a comment |
No. Trust your reader's intuition for the obvious. If the first lines of your book read:
"Put that back!" Alicia scolded.
"No! Mine!" Richard said, defiant.
She grabbed the plastic bottle of cough syrup from him, and put it back on the shelf. He started crying.
"Mine!"
"No it isn't."
Reader's aren't stupid, and writing is not a mathematical or scientific proof. They will infer Alicia is an exasperated mother, Richard is a very young child, they are in a grocery store, and you don't have to tell them any of that.
You want to be clear, but you definitely can identify a new speaker without any description and just "blah blah blah," Charname said.
You can even give clues to their appearance by action, instead of telling.
"Let me get that for you," Michael said, easily reaching the top shelf, seeing the young woman was about to climb the shelving to reach it.
"Oh, thank you," Britney said. "Would you mind grabbing another one?"
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
No. Trust your reader's intuition for the obvious. If the first lines of your book read:
"Put that back!" Alicia scolded.
"No! Mine!" Richard said, defiant.
She grabbed the plastic bottle of cough syrup from him, and put it back on the shelf. He started crying.
"Mine!"
"No it isn't."
Reader's aren't stupid, and writing is not a mathematical or scientific proof. They will infer Alicia is an exasperated mother, Richard is a very young child, they are in a grocery store, and you don't have to tell them any of that.
You want to be clear, but you definitely can identify a new speaker without any description and just "blah blah blah," Charname said.
You can even give clues to their appearance by action, instead of telling.
"Let me get that for you," Michael said, easily reaching the top shelf, seeing the young woman was about to climb the shelving to reach it.
"Oh, thank you," Britney said. "Would you mind grabbing another one?"
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmadeusAmadeus
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
69k7 gold badges90 silver badges225 bronze badges
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
add a comment |
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
nice, thanks, good answer.
– blackbird
8 hours ago
add a comment |
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene.
How you accomplish this is up to you.
That being said, it's a little weird to have "the man" and "John" so close together. So I'd shake it up slightly. An easy way would be to leave off the "said John" tag (that's easy because it's obvious to the reader he's the one talking there).
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!"
You can also play around with the "the man" part.
Matthew walked up to a tall young man with a bright purple tie who
introduced himself as John.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
If you want to obscure the person's name and gender, you can do that too.
Matthew walked up to one of the new interns who was balancing a plate in one
hand and a cup of something steaming in the other.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
add a comment |
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene.
How you accomplish this is up to you.
That being said, it's a little weird to have "the man" and "John" so close together. So I'd shake it up slightly. An easy way would be to leave off the "said John" tag (that's easy because it's obvious to the reader he's the one talking there).
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!"
You can also play around with the "the man" part.
Matthew walked up to a tall young man with a bright purple tie who
introduced himself as John.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
If you want to obscure the person's name and gender, you can do that too.
Matthew walked up to one of the new interns who was balancing a plate in one
hand and a cup of something steaming in the other.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
add a comment |
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene.
How you accomplish this is up to you.
That being said, it's a little weird to have "the man" and "John" so close together. So I'd shake it up slightly. An easy way would be to leave off the "said John" tag (that's easy because it's obvious to the reader he's the one talking there).
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!"
You can also play around with the "the man" part.
Matthew walked up to a tall young man with a bright purple tie who
introduced himself as John.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
If you want to obscure the person's name and gender, you can do that too.
Matthew walked up to one of the new interns who was balancing a plate in one
hand and a cup of something steaming in the other.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene.
How you accomplish this is up to you.
That being said, it's a little weird to have "the man" and "John" so close together. So I'd shake it up slightly. An easy way would be to leave off the "said John" tag (that's easy because it's obvious to the reader he's the one talking there).
"My name is John!" the man said.
"Happy to meet you!" said Matthew.
"Likewise!"
You can also play around with the "the man" part.
Matthew walked up to a tall young man with a bright purple tie who
introduced himself as John.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
If you want to obscure the person's name and gender, you can do that too.
Matthew walked up to one of the new interns who was balancing a plate in one
hand and a cup of something steaming in the other.
"Happy to meet you!" Matthew said.
"Likewise!"
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
edited 9 hours ago
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
answered 9 hours ago
CynCyn
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
27.1k2 gold badges59 silver badges126 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
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