I’m editing CAUGHT UP IN US and one of the things I’m paying close attention to is the use of dialogue tags. A lot of books overuse dialogue tags or rely too much on cutesy ones like “he intones” or “she counters” or “he muses.”

Here’s what I’ve learned from editing my own work and being edited in various capacities over the years. He said and she said work fine the vast majority of the time. Also, we don’t need dialogue tags as much as we think we do. Trust the reader — she or he will probably be able to follow who’s speaking even if you don’t note it in every single sentence of dialogue.

xoxo

Lauren