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[Feladwe]

For some bizarre reason my first post ot this forum has disappeared, so I am posting again.  I am a novice writer and am having difficulty writing my characters dialog.  I use a lot of 'he says' phrases and it just does not cut it for me.  I need help in finding a better way for my character to converse with others.  My work has me do technical writing in which I have no problem doing, but creative fictional writing, I do need help.

[icool]

I'm not an expert but in this instance I can lend some assistance. When writing in 3rd person it is fairly easy to accomplish unless you are writing back and forth dialogue where you need tags often. For example...

Joan found the floor wet and called out to the group, "Careful here." She stepped around the pool then froze. It was red like the color of blood. "Oh my god!" Bile came into her throat. The taste of it made her gag.

Dan grabbed her arm to steady her, "You okay?" He carefully guided her to the door while everyone else followed if they dared.

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Okay, in this fashion I didn't use the dreaded, he said she said, savvy?

[Alhaja]

Hmm... I can see your earlier post. I don't know why you wouldn't but computers can be mysterious that way.

[Merzedes]

The initial post and responses got moved, probably by mistake, to the Site News thread, so it is intact, just shifted.

[Israsenka]

Something a writer said at a writers' conference I attended years ago stuck with me:

Sometimes, people do JUST SAY things, and it's ok.

It's good to use some variety - exclaim, whisper, mutter, call, sigh, whine, moan, groan, and holler all you like, sometimes, it gets to be a bit much.  Sometimes, people just say, "Stuff."

I don't know if that counts as advice or not, but like I say, it stuck with me, and it made sense to me.