: Use of commas with non-dialogue-tag verbs before and after dialogue I've recently found myself second guessing a convention I've followed for a while where with a piece of dialogue, for instance:

I've recently found myself second guessing a convention I've followed for a while where with a piece of dialogue, for instance:

"Hurry home" came down the front stairs behind her.

I'm unsure if it is proper to place a comma before the terminating comma as one would with a real said-bookism, which I've had no luck finding out if verbs like "came," the "to be"s, and others no traditionally used to convey spoken dialogue are considered. Commas are supposed to always offset direct dialogue, yes, but the examples of this (e.g., here) only pertain to said-bookisms.
Should they be handled like dialogue tags or like one might an incomplete direct quotation in non-fiction without any commas? I've been searching for months, and perhaps my various rewordings are failing to pinpoint my actual concern, but I can't find anything conclusive.

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@Martha805

Yes, you need a comma there. "came down" is acting the role of "said" in that sentence: it is direct dialogue.

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: Use of commas with non-dialogue-tag verbs before and after dialogue I've recently found myself second guessing a convention I've followed for a while where with a piece of dialogue, for instance:

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: How do you make a complex but unlikable character? I'm at the point in my story planning where I need to develop all of the characters. I want this character to be just be a complete asshole,

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