Ankari:
Those are good authors, and what I've seen of their writing works just fine. None of these so-called rules are absolutes. I do think an author should use "said" predominantly, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to ever use another tag. As for not breaking every character's action into a new paragraph, I've seen all sorts of examples of that. I've even seen a POV shift within a paragraph (no break). None of these things are inherently wrong. The only question that matters in any given instance is this: does it work?
Those are good authors, and what I've seen of their writing works just fine. None of these so-called rules are absolutes. I do think an author should use "said" predominantly, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to ever use another tag. As for not breaking every character's action into a new paragraph, I've seen all sorts of examples of that. I've even seen a POV shift within a paragraph (no break). None of these things are inherently wrong. The only question that matters in any given instance is this: does it work?