Dialog Tags

Dialog tags? I know. Sounds like nasty little growths you get on your tongue when you talk too much. But in fiction writing they can suck the flavor out of an otherwise juicy story. Consider the following exchange…
   “Did you really do it with him right here in this room?” asked John angrily.
   “Well what did you expect? You’re always gone.” replied Martha defiantly.
   “Hey man, I’m sorry,” said Fred fearfully.
   “Sorry?” yelled John in a mounting rage.
   “Not as sorry as you’re gonna be!”
   “Oh John, please let him go,” cried Martha desperately.
   “Dude, we were once friends,” pleaded Fred.

All the “he said/she said” bogs the story down. Better if the writer can show the emotional context with action-oriented narrative...
     John gripped his hand on Martha’s shoulder and shoved her backward onto the occupied bed. “Did you really do it with him right here in this room?”
     She reached over, grabbed his valise from the floor and shook it at him. “Well, what did you expect? You’re always gone.”
     Fred tried to slink out of the bed. “Hey man, I’m sorry.” He grabbed his clothes and bolted for the door.
     “Sorry?” John stepped back and slammed the door shut. “Not as sorry as you’re gonna be!”
     Martha leapt out of the bed and fell to John’s feet. “Oh John, please let him go.”
     Fred cowered, waiting for the blow of John’s fist.
     “Dude, we were once friends.”

Get the picture? Notwithstanding the overly melodramatic example, the second exchange places you in the room with the characters. Not once was it necessary to write “he said.” As a first-time novelist I hadn’t thought much about dialog tags until my publisher sent me a short article on the subject. I then looked back upon my own manuscript with a good dose of “OMG!!” So the past two weeks I’ve been exorcising those little devils. But I also used the time to restructure a few sections of the story, add some drama here and there, and hack out some sections that were just too dull. The rework pushed everything back a couple weeks, but I’m happier with the result. And that means you will be too.