I want to write a good novel and need words to use in conversations.
When writing a dialogue in a novel or any piece of writing it is very easy to overuse certain tag words such as said, asked, whispered, shouted, etc.
There are many different tag words you can use when writing a dialogue in a novel. These tag words are very useful to indicate who is talking but also how the person is talking, whether they are happy or sad, if they are arguing or disagreeing with somebody. They will also make the dialogue more interesting and dynamic as you are using different words rather than said or asked throughout the entire dialogue.
Take a look at the list below:
- Admit
- Answer
- Argue
- Beg
- Blurt
- Brag
- Complain
- Confess
- Declare
- Demand
- Deny
- Disagree
- Growl
- Inquire
- Insist
- Lie
- Mumble
- Promise
- Rant
- Reply
- Request
- Scream
- Screech
- Sob
- Swore
- Tell
- Wail
- Warn
- Wonder
- Yell
Below are some examples of how the tag words can be used in a dialogue.
- “I have always loved you,” he declared.
- “I bought a new Ferrari and Porsche,” she bragged.
- The boy wondered, “How can I get out of going to school today?”
- “Your rooms are disgusting, you haven’t finished your homework and you didn’t clean up after dinner!”, their mom ranted.
- “Help,” the girl screeched, “a rat!”
- “I copied your project,” her colleague confessed.
- “Give me all your money” the burglar growled.
- “I don’t want to do my homework” the child mumbled.
As you can see from the examples above, the various tag words give extra information to the conversation. Let’s look at one of the examples more closely:
- “Give me all your money” the burglar growled.
By using “growled” the reader sees that the burglar is angry, they can imagine an intimidating and scary burglar.
Whereas if you use “said” it doesn’t have the same affect, it doesn’t show the reader that the burglar means business and is not to be messed with.
- “Give me all your money” the burglar said.
