Okay, it’s a monologue, I know, but it’s still the question. Because an article like this is a kind of dialogue too — only the reader’s reaction takes the role of the dialogue partner. And this opening could serve as an example of how difficult it is to establish context without naming it directly. Why is that — and why do I insist on trying anyway? (Besides the obvious answer: sheer mulishness. 😉) You only realize how much craftsmanship goes into a piece of dialogue when you suddenly find yourself stuck in one that doesn’t flow, one that stumbles every other line because it’s filled with little labels telling you who is speaking and in what tone — the infamous dialogue tags. I have a clear stance on these, one that has grown over time and hardened into something close to stubbornness: I write with as few dialogue tags as possible.

by Marcus Ellingford*  “Either that was the most polite gas explosion I’ve ever seen – or someone was being very considerate.” He was sitting across from me, hands clasped, a bit of soot still under his fingernails; he’d come straight from a call. Officially this was just a conversation “off the record” – and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be worried when I heard his story. But let’s start at the beginning.