#1 [url]

Aug 7 07 6:51 PM

I agree 100% with Jo. That is the perfect way to avoid the 'he said, she said' tags.

Another way is when is 2 people are having a conversation - it becomes obvious who is talking.
e.g.:
John looked to Susan for some answers. "What's goin on?"
"I'm not sure."
"You expect me to believe that you have nothing to do with this whole fiasco?"
"I promise you that I don’t. It's not what it seems."

Sometimes the tag is necessary if more than two characters are talking and you don't want to slow down the dialogue by describing actions.
Limit the tags to 'said', 'asked', 'replied', and not much more. Those tags become almost invisible.
Tags like 'barked', 'sobbed', 'yelled', etc, tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

Also, try and stay from the adverbs.
e.g. ... John said coarsely.
If you need to get the coarseness across then use Jo's suggestion:
"I’m fine. I’m positive I wasn’t infected. I personally turned on the filters." John’s words were persuasive but his coarse voice suggested otherwise.

Sorry about the poor examples, but I hope you get my point...

Doug