How can I communicate that an entire conversation is whispered?

Question

Situation in fiction writing. Two characters are involved in an exploration of a long-abandoned gold mine. However, dangerous creatures may still lurk there. The two characters will be communicating over the course of a few hours but they need to whisper to avoid being detected. What is the best way to handle this regarding dialogue tags? I want the reader to be aware that they are whispering, but I don't what to have to add that tag after each bit of conversation.

For example:

"We need to be quiet in here," whispered Jim.
"I agree," replied Bill quietly.
"How long do you think we'll be in this place?" asked Jim, in a hushed tone.
"I have no idea," whispered Bill.
"You're kidding!" said Jim too loudly.
"Shhh!" growled Bill as quietly as he could. "You need to whisper in here, or else!"

How often do I need to remind my readers that the characters are whispering (or should be doing so)?

Answer 1

Honestly, I think that so long as you mention the whole conversation was in a whispery tone, it would get the message across.

"The two men crouched down and began speaking in low, soft tones."

"We need to be quiet in here," said Jim. Billy nodded. "I agree."

You don't have to say that "Jim/Billy whispered" so long as you mention it before the bulk of the conversation began.

Answer 2

You'll probably be most satisfied by this bit of dialogue the more you lean on character reactions and conveying their internal state about being overheard, than focusing on using dialogue tags like whispered, secreted, hissed, murmured, and so on. Certain action beats will also play a good part in a convincing scene. "Billy-Joe-Bob leaned close to my ear, so as to not be overheard. The corn liquor on his breath curled my ear hairs."

The advice I've been given is to abstain from using dialogue tags other than said in 1st drafts. I believe the purpose of that advice is to force the creative use of the dialogue to resemble people speaking in hushed tones -- avoiding bright sounding vowels and hard constants -- and mostly to get the first draft to have a solid use of action beats to establish the movement or action in the scene.

When you are done, with it, if you had a whispered or similar tag in a page of dialogue, you've probably done a decent job. Using a thesaurus to find dialogue tags with the same meaning as whispered defeats the purpose.

Answer 3

One creative idea might be to use a slightly smaller font, or all lower case or italics. This might appeal to the "visual" readers. :)