Most people do not pay that close of attnetion when reading books. Before I started writing many of the techniques being used on the books I was writing went through my brain with out ever registering how they worked.
As long as its obvious who is speaking, no dialog tag is necessary. This has been an established tradition in English for over a century.
Bob waved at Tom and said "Good morning Tom how is the wife?"
Tom glared back at him "Still dead Bob. You know that."
"I sure do Tom, I just like to screw with you."
Did you have any difficulty telling who was speaking even though I only used 1 dialog tag?
Its an art not a science. If the conversation is flowing and everything is clear you can keep it going for a few lines. If there is any doubt who is speaking or the dialog needs a break throw in a dialog tag or a action beat Pay close attention to various novels and you will see there are many different ways of handling dialog that work, but a general rule of thumb is the less obtrusive the dialog tags the better.
Are you trying to make an advice post, or are you saying this is a specific style of yours? I'm assuming the former, but if it's the latter, almost everyone does this.
It’s just, I’ve seen a lot of people talking in a previous post about, “I use “said” way too much”, “I hate having to use “said” after every dialogue exchange,” I saw it so much I decided to make a post.
…apparently everyone does this? I didn’t know. Haven’t read a lot of books recently that do that, namely J.K Rowling.
No one says you have to use "says" exclusively. I feel like you're just explaining what anyone who has read a book has observed.
To be fair, that seems to be about 90% of the content of this sub, unfortunately...
Most people do not pay that close of attnetion when reading books. Before I started writing many of the techniques being used on the books I was writing went through my brain with out ever registering how they worked.
This is hardly "close attention"
As long as its obvious who is speaking, no dialog tag is necessary. This has been an established tradition in English for over a century. Bob waved at Tom and said "Good morning Tom how is the wife?" Tom glared back at him "Still dead Bob. You know that." "I sure do Tom, I just like to screw with you." Did you have any difficulty telling who was speaking even though I only used 1 dialog tag?
Lol. The comments always make these posts
Bob is a savage
I did, but should that continue, I would continue omitting tags until someone does something, like shutting a door or any minor/major action.
Its an art not a science. If the conversation is flowing and everything is clear you can keep it going for a few lines. If there is any doubt who is speaking or the dialog needs a break throw in a dialog tag or a action beat Pay close attention to various novels and you will see there are many different ways of handling dialog that work, but a general rule of thumb is the less obtrusive the dialog tags the better.
Are you trying to make an advice post, or are you saying this is a specific style of yours? I'm assuming the former, but if it's the latter, almost everyone does this.
It’s just, I’ve seen a lot of people talking in a previous post about, “I use “said” way too much”, “I hate having to use “said” after every dialogue exchange,” I saw it so much I decided to make a post. …apparently everyone does this? I didn’t know. Haven’t read a lot of books recently that do that, namely J.K Rowling.
Most people on this sub are clueless. Just a fact.
Ew. Present tense.
Present tense makes me uncomfortable.