The Difference Between a Tag and a Beat

In honor of Pitch Wars, here's a little post about a basic of writing.

Tag or Beat. Do you know which is which and how they involve writing. For many old hands, this is something they've learned long ago. But for newer writers, you may not have heard of them. It's easy for this distinction to skip your radar unless you have experience. I've seen many mistakes that are easily avoidable.

Tags and beats go with dialogue. Basically a tag is a sentence where you use 'said, asked, whispered, called, yelled, replied, answered,' any word that indicates someone is speaking.

A beat is an action. Your character is doing something while talking. Beats involve things like smiling, frowning, sighing, jumping, poking.

Why should you care these are two different things? What difference does it make if you can't tell tags from beats?

Because one gets a comma around dialogue and the other requires a period. Also the capitalization rules are different. And mixing up which gets what punctuation screams amateur.

Some examples of tags:

"Send me that full manuscript," the agent said.

"Where's your bio?" Brenda asked.

"I love this concept!" the mentor screamed.

The mentor whispered, "It's time."

"I have to have more," she said, "send it right away."

Note: also could be

"I have to have more," she said. "Send it right away."

What do we see here? No periods except at the end of the whole sentence, which includes the tag. Instead commas are used to end the dialogue. Why? Because tags by themselves are not a sentence. Thus no capital letter after the dialogue either, except for proper names. 

However, note that question marks and exclamation points do replace the comma. Also notice that when a tag goes between continuing parts of dialogue you don't use a capital letter on the second section.

Often you want to mix things up and avoid the extra wordage of tags. Now a look at beats:

"I'll never get this query right." Tootie sighed.

Blair smiled. "This is my best effort yet!"

"I like a challenge." She did a happy dance.

Natalie glared at both of them. "You dingleheads, I'll be the one picked."

"Girls, girls." Mrs. Garrett clapped her hands. "You give me a headache."

Here you will notice there are periods and punctuation all around. Why? Because you have two or more separate sentences. All sentences have capital letters. Unlike a tag, a beat is a sentence on its own.

But what if you have a tag and a beat? It's still handled as if one sentence.

Jo smirked and said,"Mrs. Garrett always has a headache."

"I can get this query right," Tootie whispered to herself, spinning on her skates.

"I can't wait for August 18th," they all shouted, while jumping in the air.

Commas and lowercase letters where needed, just like with a tag alone.

And here is one last special case to truly make it confusing. A beat between incomplete dialogue. Now you need dashes and no commas!

“I’ve got”—Brenda did a pretty twirl—“it all covered!”

So there's some explanation of tags and beats. Now bring on August 18th!

Short Cuts- When Are They Okay?

In writing you can't take short cuts. You have to learn the rules. Have to spend the time on the research. Have to read your writing again and again to perfect it with edits.

But there is one area where short cuts aren't frowned upon, but encouraged. I'm talking about dialogue!

When creating dialogue to put in the mouths of your characters, you need short cuts. You want your conversations to feel like they could actually be spoken by real people.

You don't want characters to sound unnatural or even worse stiff. (Exception if you're showing the character is stiff and awkward.) There are a couple of obvious tricks to accomplish the natural feel.

Experts recommend doing a little eavesdropping. Listen in on stranger's conversations. Pay attention to your own. What will you notice?

First off, you'll hear that people take short cuts when they speak. People are lazy. Why spell everything out when you can shorten? They leave out words. They use contractions. 

Next you'll learn people use slang to make conversations even shorter. Why say a whole phrase when one word covers it all? 

And if something is understood between the parties speaking, they're not going to mention it all. 

For example these people use reasonably correct grammar:

"Hello. How are you doing?" he asked. 

"I am good," she said.

"Do you want to come to the basketball game at our high school this Friday night with me?"

She blushed. "That would be fun."

It's very stiff. Very unnatural.

Now here it is again with shortcuts:

"Hey. How's  it?" he asked.

"Good." she said.

"Wanna go to the game Friday?"

She blushed. "Awesome!"

The better people/characters know each other, obviously, the more shortcuts they will take when speaking with each other. Shortcuts can clue the reader in to the depth of a relationship, showing how well characters know each other. You want it to be more formal with strangers, more informal with friends and family.

What kind of game and where it takes place is something understood between them. For it to actually be included in the conversation is to lead or clue the reader. Sometimes it's necessary to throw out clues for the reader. In this case, it might be better to add 'basketball' back into the equation.

"Hey. How's  it?" he asked.
"Good." she said.
"Wanna go to the basketball game Friday?"
She blushed. "Awesome!"

An exaggerated example of leading the reader:

Mom says, "Do not forget to pick up the paper and get the mail while we leave you alone and go to Niagara Falls in New York for the whole weekend."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, Mom."

Would Mom really have to mention where they are going and for how long? Wouldn't daughter know this fact already? Putting this information in dialogue is a clumsy way to clue the reader.

Here's a different option:

Mom says, "Don't forget to get the mail and the paper while we're gone."

I roll my eyes. Did Mom think thieves were going to break in while her parents went to Niagara Falls for one weekend? "Yes, Mom."

Leading in dialogue rarely comes across as natural. It just feels hokey and forced. But if you can manage the same thing by using internal thoughts you can also add voice and attitude to your character. Letting the reader get to know the character and her opinions is a bonus.

So to be short ('cause I feel I know ya'). Take shortcuts in dialogue. Drop words. Use contractions. Use slang. Don't lead. 

Have fun.