This post was a few weeks back so I expect everyone else has read it before, but I thought it was a really good, balanced, basic guide to the writing of dialogue - well worth bookmarking.

http://theelephantinthewritingroom.blogspot.com/2011/08/talking.html


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This was the best bit, I thought, and summed things up very well:

When writing dialogue, don't be a one-trick pony. Too much of one thing, whether it's beats or tags or no tags at all, becomes tedious. Use them wisely. How do you know it you've got it right? Read it out loud and listen to how it sounds. If it jars in any way, it needs to be changed.

I hadn't seen this before. Definitely worth reading. It's interesting how many of the points are things that we know perfectly well already but tend to overlook or ignore when actually laying down the dialogue. The suggestions are good, but so are her explanations of why it's sensible to follow them.

Chris

That's a very good post. Maddeningly, Firefox will never let me comment on that kind of Blogger comment setup, or I'd have said so on it!

I blogged specifically about speech tags here,

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/05/talking-speech-tags.html

but Sally's post is more wide-ranging. Great stuff.

Emma

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MEant to say, thanks for posting, Rosy!