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Q&A Deciding whether to use a dialogue tag or an action tag in a dialogue

Example: "I'm not saying you don't know what you are talking about," he said, then looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't know what you are talking about." "I'm not say...

2 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:29:43Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/6207
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Alexandro Chen‭ · 2019-12-08T02:29:43Z (over 4 years ago)
Example:

> "I'm not saying you don't know what you are talking about," he said, then looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't know what you are talking about."
> 
> "I'm not saying you don't know what you are talking about." He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't know what you are talking about."

If I'm not mistaken, both examples are describing the same thing. But I always find my self wondering whether I should use dialogue tags or action tags.

Another example:

> He looked to the side and blushed. "I probably love you."
> 
> He looked to the side, blushed and said, "I probably love you."
> 
> "I probably love you." He looked to the side and blushed.
> 
> "I probably love you," he said, after looking to the side and blushing.
> 
> "I probably love you," he said, looking to the side and blushing.

Should I stick with some of them, or all of them are useful in different situations?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-08-16T12:40:37Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 4