Revising Dialogue I
When revising dialogue, help readers follow along by including
speaker's tags—such as "he asked" and "I whispered"—that reveal not only
who is talking but also
how the person is talking. In the examples below, the characters deliver the same line. Notice that the descriptive words in the speakers' tags reveal information about the characters and about the context in which they are speaking.
- "Are you ready?" Carol asked impatiently, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
- "Are you ready?" Tan whispered nervously, peeking through the crack in the stage curtain.
