Dialogue rules in books and novels: how to give your dialogue the professional look

Mastering Dialogue Formatting: A Guide for Novel Writers

Writing dialogue in novels is one of the most rewarding aspects of fiction writing. Crafting realistic, engaging dialogue can bring characters and stories to life, but if you're like me, you might forget to format it correctly while you're in the flow of writing. It happens to the best of us. But if you want to edit your dialogue with confidence, there's a solution!

tl;dr: As a software developer and writer, I created a dialogue editing tool that flags formatting mistakes automatically. But we'll discuss that at the end!

Understanding Dialogue Tags

First, let's clarify what a dialogue tag is. A dialogue tag is a verb that signals speech—words like "said," "whispered," "shouted," and so on. There are different schools of thought about using dialogue tags. Some writing guides recommend sticking to "said" for clarity, but personally, I find it somewhat limiting. I experimented with this approach for a time, but I found it difficult to convey the nuances I wanted. It made my prose feel flat, like a meal missing its essential seasoning.

Let me give you an example from a manuscript I'm working on:

(Disclaimer: I'm a much better web developer than I am a writer... please bear with me!)

"What are we doing here?" Said Margaret. Harrison looked at her as she glanced around the empty warehouse. "Is this still in the city limits?"
"I need your assistance with something, Margaret." Harrison said.
"I wish you'd be more specific," Margaret said.
"I have a matter to attend to, and I need you to keep watch."
"What matter? And why—" Margaret looked around as headlights swept across the wall. "What's going on?"

You'll notice it becomes repetitive using only "said" and doesn't provide much context about the scene's atmosphere or the characters' emotional states. That's why incorporating varied dialogue tags and action beats can elevate your prose and make your dialogue more dynamic and engaging.

But let's take this one step at a time. I'll highlight all the dialogue tags here:

"What are we doing here?" Said Margaret. Harrison looked at her as she glanced around the empty warehouse. "Is this still in the city limits?"
"I need your assistance with something, Margaret." Harrison said.
"I wish you'd be more specific," Margaret said.
"I have a matter to attend to, and I need you to keep watch."
"What matter? And why—" Margaret looked around as headlights swept across the wall. "What's going on?"

I don't know about you—and perhaps this is just my inexperience showing—but it reads as repetitive and monotonous. It also conveys very little about what's actually happening in the scene.

This is where varied dialogue tags become valuable. Thoughtful dialogue editing makes your novel easier to follow and more engaging for your readers.

"What are we doing here?" asked Margaret. Harrison looked at her as she glanced around the empty warehouse. "Is this still in the city limits?"
"I need your assistance with something, Margaret." Harrison replied.
"I wish you'd be more specific," Margaret pressed.
"I have a matter to attend to, and I need you to keep watch."
"What matter? And why—" Margaret looked around as headlights swept across the wall. "What's going on?"

Now, there's certainly more that should be addressed: the scene currently lacks atmospheric detail; some formatting issues need correction—but those are topics for another discussion. However, with these small changes and without adding excessive description, we've made the text:

Formatting Dialogue Tags: The Essential Rules

Now that we understand what dialogue tags are, let's discuss proper formatting.

There are several important rules to follow when formatting dialogue tags in fiction, but one is paramount:

If you're using a dialogue tag, that tag is a continuation of the direct speech. In other words, the "Margaret said" portion is part of the same sentence as the dialogue. By this logic:

"What are we doing here?" Asked Margaret.

...is incorrect. "Asked" should not be capitalized, as it's still part of the same sentence as the direct speech. It should be:

"What are we doing here?" asked Margaret.

This applies when the dialogue ends with an exclamation mark, question mark, ellipsis, or comma—but not with a period.

Why? Because direct speech, when followed by a dialogue tag, never ends in a period.

By this rule, this is incorrect:

"I need your assistance with something, Margaret." Harrison replied.

It should be:

"I need your assistance with something, Margaret," Harrison replied.

However, the rules change when the direct speech is not followed by a dialogue tag, but by an action tag.

Understanding Action Tags

So what is an action tag? Simply put, it's everything that isn't a dialogue tag—descriptions of what characters do, how they react, where they move, and so on.

Here:

"What matter?" She looked around as headlights swept across the wall. "What's going on?"

"Looked around" is an action tag, so it's correct for "She" to be capitalized. The direct speech ends with the question mark, completing the sentence.

Quick Editing Checklist for Dialogue

Comma with No Dialogue Tag

Capital After Comma

Lowercase After Period

No Dialogue Tag After Terminal Punctuation

Capital After Terminal Punctuation

That's a Lot to Remember...

Don't worry—it all comes with practice. But as I mentioned at the beginning, I'm here to help you edit your manuscript.

As a developer, I built a tool that helps me follow all these rules automatically.

It's called The Dialogue Thing and it's completely free!

It helps you identify all these formatting issues in your text without making changes for you, keeping you in control of your writing.

It also flags adverbs, but that's a conversation for another article.

The tool offers:

If you've read this far, you might be wondering: how do you make money from this? What's the catch?

The answer is simple: I don't.

I didn't create this to generate income. I created it because I needed it for my own writing.

For this reason, you can choose (and I emphasize choose) to donate on my Ko-fi page, which you'll find linked in the tool itself.

Conclusion

Mastering dialogue formatting is essential for any novelist who wants to produce professional, polished fiction. By following these dialogue tag rules and utilizing tools like The Dialogue Thing, you can make your dialogue more dynamic and your manuscript stand out to agents, editors, and readers alike.