From Nail Your Novel:
I’ve seen dialogue tags discussed a few times recently on writing forums.
The discussion goes like this.
‘When writing a piece of dialogue, do you need synonyms for “said”? Doesn’t it get boring for the reader? What about words with a bit more expression, such as exclaimed or spat or shouted or yelled?’
‘Noooo,’ comes the reply, overwhelmingly. ‘Only use “said”.’
I agree, mostly.
I also disagree.
Yes, ‘said’ will do most of the time. It’s almost invisible to the reader, so it doesn’t get boring. You’re using it merely to convey who’s talking. And if you feel you’re overusing ‘said’, consider doing without it. In a conversation between two people, the order of speakers might be obvious by the give and take of the paragraphs. There are also other ways to slip in a clue to who’s talking. You can use actions. Eg ‘Molly began to peel the orange.’
On the subject of actions, don’t forget that other things are going on in the scene as well. A common problem with dialogue is that writers get obsessed by the characters’ verbalisations, so they forget to include other sensory details. The rest of the scene disappears, as if the narrative has become a radio play.
The solution? Write the dialogue, then go back and add other stuff. That’s what most of us have to do.
So remember your characters are also sitting or standing or walking or driving. All of these non-spoken ingredients can help you establish who’s talking.
Link to the rest at Nail Your Novel