...he said...she declared...I yelled...

[Devor]

Dialog tags are only needed to identify the speaker,
if only two, it is like a ping pong game,
1 says the other replies,
"I saw her" says #1
"Really?"#2 asks
"Yep"
"What was she doing?"
"Riding her horse."

Once we established who started the conversation it bounces back and forth.

Well, okay . . . maybe if everyone's sitting at a table, taking turns in the conversation as happens in civilized society.

I just find it strange that the examples people produce look more like a screenplay than a work of prose.

(edit) I'm sorry, I really am, if that was too snarky. I just think that good writing incorporates every element to build the scene, and I don't understand why some people would so readily give up an entire category of words just because some people don't use them well.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Agreed. Confusion aside, long stretches of two people talking with no description of the physical scene can get a bit bland. People don't typically have long conversations without showing facial reactions or doing something with their hands to indicate nervousness/agitation, etc. that can inform their state of mind and convey something to the reader.

 

[ShortHair]

What I decided to do in my current novel, however, is to not use any attributions at all. That is, there will be no "he saids" or anything of the like. Instead, I am using writing the descriptive text around the dialog in a way to indicate the speakers by proximity. It's a bit of an experiment; the trick will be to do it in a way that isn't awkward. We'll see how it goes.

I tried that once. I still think it's a good idea, but everyone who's read for me complains about it. "I can't tell who's speaking here." A paragraph break indicates a different speaker, why can't it indicate that an action goes with a bit of speech?

One reason I like this idea is that most people don't sit still while they talk. Characters in a story don't have the luxury of sitting still. At the very least you can show someone's state of mind rather than tell it (which is what a bookism is doing). So you break up a "wall of speech" with actions (thus varying the tone), you attribute speech to a particular speaker, you amplify what's being said, and you advance the plot. What's not to love?

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

Agree with both of you, although I do sometimes like to do a conversation with no attributions. I think it creates a quick, snappy effect, and I need that sometimes.

edit: both meaning benjamin and devor

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Yeah, I don't think it's always a bad idea, it's just something that defies common expectation and so has to be used carefully and rarely.