Ep. 309 - Reading Dialogue Without Tags: How to Keep Every Character Clear

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When a book drops the "he said" and "she said", you can lose track of who's talking, and so can your listener. In this episode I go through how I prep a scene like that and how to make each character easy to follow without doing big voices. Then the two mistakes I hear most.

(01:18) The problem. Some authors leave out the dialogue tags, sometimes on purpose. As the narrator you still have to know who's speaking, and it gets harder when there are more than two people in the scene.

(03:09) Prep first. At the very least, read the chapter before you narrate it. Then mark the speakers, one highlighter colour per character, so you can see who's talking at a glance while you record. If you've done the prep and you're still not sure, ask the author. They'll be glad you did.

(06:40) Your listener doesn't know either. Give each character a small, consistent difference in pitch, pace or attitude rather than a big voice, and anchor it on the first line they speak.

(08:04) Reference files. I record a few lines of each character, or write notes on them, so I can listen back and find the voice again when they come back into the story.

(08:46) The first common mistake is characters drifting into sounding the same, especially late in a scene. Check yourself against your reference files. Stop and re-listen when you need to.

(11:00) The second is overacting to make up for it. Extreme pitch turns a real person into a caricature. Small touches do more, like a little more breath for one character or a slower pace for an older one.

(14:59) Try this today. Take one page of dialogue and mark the speakers. Then record it without the tags. Listen back and check you can hear who's who from your performance alone.

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