One of the most difficult things about writing dialogue isn’t just what to say, but how to let your readers know who’s talking. Dialogue tags–added phrases such as “he said” or “she asked”–can be useful, but they grow monotonous and boring when an author never varies them.

There are only so many times you can write “he,” “she,” or a character’s name in a dialogue tag.

Now, I can’t claim to be a master of the creative dialogue tag–and I don’t necessarily think it’s a good idea to be so creative that something as mundane as a dialogue tag draws attention away from the substance of the dialogue.

That’s the trick: you want something that isn’t your character’s name used over and over, and yet something that will read so smoothly it’s barely noticeable. Dialogue tags are not what you want to stand out in your writing.

That said, I’ve…