The dialogue tag is the bit that establishes who is speaking. There’s a lot of advice about how to write dialogue tags, but I’m going to focus on the methods preferred in the industry today.
First, “said” should be the default dialogue tag. A lot of people will tell you that you need to vary your dialogue tags.
The problem with using different dialogue tags every time there’s a new piece of text is that the tags distract from what’s being said. The dialogue tag “said” is so common, that it becomes invisible, like a piece of punctuation. Saying that “said” is overused, is like saying periods are overused.
There are some times when tags other than said are appropriate. I personally like “asked” and “answered” when there’s a question involved.
If a different dialogue tag is necessary for determining how the speaker said something, go ahead and use a different tag. If the character is whispering, go ahead and say “she whispered.”
The other advantage to defaulting to “said” is that other dialogue tags can be used sparingly to draw emphasis to an important piece of dialogue. If you’ve been using said all chapter long and suddenly use demand, that will be a lot more noticeable than if you’re using a new tag every other line.
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He Said, She Said: Dialogue Tips
Non-FictionIf a book has really good dialogue, you may not notice because it flows so naturally. But if you're reading a book with poorly written dialogue, it will probably feel awkward. It may even feel painful. You may not want to continue reading. You don't...
