Who Said What – Speech Tags

When writing dialogue in fiction, there’s lots of ways to ascribe speech to your characters. These indicators are called “speech tags”.

The most common way is to use the word, “said”.
“Don’t forget to take out the trash,” his mother said.

Opinions vary on what’s acceptable and what’s not. Some critics claim the word, “said”, is boring and overused, while others, such as Elmore Leonard, claim any word OTHER than “said” is the intrusive and annoying.
“The line of dialogue belongs to the character. The verb is the writer sticking his nose in,”
Leonard grumbled. (Pun intended) He went on to say, “the word “said” is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, or lied”.

In other words, some writers and critics tell you to avoid the following:
“Take out the trash,” his mother barked.

So who is right, and who’s wrong? Here, you’ll just have to use your common sense and personal taste as a writer and reader of fiction when choosing which tags work best for you. If you’re going to use the word “said”, you might occasionally sprinkle in a different word for variety.

Most agree, however, that it’s NOT okay to modify “said” with an “ly” adverb.
…he said, loudly. or
…she said, softly

Here, you’d be better off writing,
…he shouted.
…she whispered.

GRAMMAR RULES AND SPEECH TAGS

Rules of grammar dictate you start a new paragraph with indentations when you’ve got a new speaker, so as not to confuse the reader. You should never have to characters speaking on the same line.
Bill held out the fishing pole. “Here, son. Try that spot over there.” “Over by that tree?”

Instead, split it up by blocking with a new paragraph.
Bill held out the fishing pole. “Here, Son. Try that spot over there.”
“Over by that tree?”

Also, beware the following:
“I knew there was a problem,” Tom said.
“Yeah, I saw it too,” Bill said.
“It really bothers me,” Tom said.
“I could see it in your eyes,” Bill said.

Once you’ve established a back and forth dialogue between two characters, the reader will (or SHOULD) have a pretty good idea who is speaking to who, without being reminded on every line. In cases like this, a periodic cue from writer should suffice.