Critique that fixed my dialogue tagging

I was in a writing group last spring and someone said my characters kept 'smiling' and 'nodding' after every line. They told me to try action tags that show what the character is doing instead of repeating the same few verbs. Has anyone else gotten a piece of feedback that completely changed how they write a specific technique?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora1106d ago

That tip about action tags really stuck with me too. A buddy once told me my characters were always 'shrugging' and 'sighing' like they were in some kind of mime troupe, so I started giving them small tasks to do while talking. Made a world of difference in making conversations feel real, like someone fiddling with a pen or glancing out a window.

lindal136d ago

Small tasks are good but idk if I'd call it an "action tag" exactly. An action tag is more like "she said, picking up her coffee" which is the whole beat happening while someone speaks. Giving a character a prop is more like setting the scene so they have something to do with their hands. Maybe it's just me but I think of action tags as the little movements that break up the dialogue, not the background business like fiddling with a pen.