Better Books---

---Never take dialog for granted. The he-said / she-said convention is too often used as an expedient crutch to move the action along, at the expense of reader interest. Seeing a page stacked with a pile of quoted dialog followed by "he said" and "she said" can lose a reader because, rather than keeping up a flow of character interaction, it starts to draw attention to itself as a tedious device. At some point it starts to look like stuttering; as though the author is trying so hard to get the speaking out, that s/he quits speaking to the reader. At least break it up with a "he sighed," or "she mused."

Better yet, experiment. If only two people are speaking, you can alternate quoted dialogue and skip the s/he-saids after it is clear who the speakers are. Author Richard Russo does a good job with dialogue that does not draw attention to itself too much, because he takes pains not to.

Or challenge yourself. Try writing a passage with dialog using no quotation marks, no s/he-said appendages. You'll usually have to provide some clue as to speaker changes if you can't make it plain within the context of the interplay between the characters--at least a paragraph break with indent or some such--but the results are usually better because you will have to put more thought into the interplay of your characters, their motivations, and their actions. Might a reader get lost occasionally. Perhaps, but probably not irretrievably if you have established their trust in a consistent style. Take a look at Dancing Blind. There is scarcely a quotation mark in the whole novel. Then trust your reader.