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[Guide] Tagging in Dialogue

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bardsandsages:
For purposes of encouraging craft discussions:

One of the biggest problems writers have is not knowing when or how to use dialogue tags. Tags can bog down dialogue in a story. Excessive use of tags can actually make it harder to follow a conversation. Tags should only be used to help identify who is speaking or to provide additional insight not already conveyed in the conversation itself. The dialogue should in most cases be able to convey the emotion of the scene without hitting the reader over the head with extra dialogue tags.

https://bardsandsages.com/juliedawson/2012/06/12/tagging-in-dialogue/

Post-Crisis D:
As a reader, my personal preference is frequent dialogue tags.  I agree with discussions I've seen that argue
"said" gets skimmed or otherwise does not significantly interrupt dialogue flow.  Occasionally mixing in other verbs works for me too.

Not having enough dialogue tags is problematic.  If you lose your place in reading dialogue and have to go back several paragraphs or pages to try to figure out which character is saying what, then that interrupts the flow far more than dialogue tags themselves.

As a reader, I'd rather see "he said/she said" frequently than have to backtrack and find my place again.  Dialogue tags are handy little bookmarks that quickly allow you to keep track of, or be sure of, who is saying what.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I've read books where I have lost track of who is saying what and had to go back several pages to try to figure it out.  And that's something that's easily avoided by telling me who is speaking with a quick dialogue tag.

WasAnn:
Like a lot of people, I like to see it every few lines to remind me, but also because a back and forth that goes on too long starts to seem like people talking in a white room. I want to know what they're doing, what they're emotional response is, or whether or not they're getting so eager to blow up aliens that they're toying with their raygun.

The kicker for me is that before I publish, even before I send to a final editor, I read the whole thing aloud with expression. I hate audiobooks that have too many saids and asks.

EllieL:
I love dialogue. I'm very dialogue driven when I write. That said, I mix up both dialogue and action tags enough to keep things interesting (I hope!), but try not to use so many that it bogs down the narrative. I also like to have enough in place to avoid the 'talking head syndrome', where you have people talking++, but don't necessarily know who is who.

idontknowyet:
I've been trying to use as a general rule of thumb to avoid confusion a tag of some sort every forth speaker switch. I try to alternate irregularly between an action and said, but sometimes an action tag just distractions from the conversation.

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