He said- audience

[timelord1963]

Is it better to identify the speaker by who they are talking to instead of who is talking?

examples:

Old way Jack said," You do not have to remind me about the rock on top of the hill, that hurt."

or


"Remember last time Jack, I never want to do a concussion protocol on you again," Jill grimaced," It took two weeks before we could play hopscotch because you couldn't bend over to pick up your stone."

Just seeing if putting the audiences name in the quote eliminates the he said/ she said.

TL63

 

[Weird Harold]

Is it better to identify the speaker by who they are talking to instead of who is talking?

examples:

Old way Jack said," You do not have to remind me about the rock on top of the hill, that hurt."

or


"Remember last time Jack, I never want to do a concussion protocol on you again," Jill grimaced," It took two weeks before we could play hopscotch because you couldn't bend over to pick up your stone."

Just seeing if putting the audiences name in the quote eliminates the he said/ she said.

TL63

It can. It can also be overused, like any other trick of writing.

Specifically, it is best used when the response is from the named person. If the response is NOT from the named person, a dialogue tag is necessary.

FWIW, in your example, "Jill grimaced," is a form of dialogue tag, so you didn't eliminate anything until Jack replies directly after Jill's comment.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Mix it up.

Use every way you can to clearly identify who is speaking, if the context doesn't do it for you. There is no right way of wrong way, but if you only use one technique your writing will probably dry up and sound forced.

Recent thread on the same topic

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1390448&page=1

 

[SamScribble]

The convoluted tricks that some authors get up to avoid 'he said / she said' make me smile. If the tag is required, use it. If it isn't, don't. It's that simple.

 

[Nezhul]

the "he said" tag is greatly overused in some works.
When I read "Harry Potter" in English, my eyes literally melted because he says things a lot. the tag is in 70% of dialogue lines, and seeing how short they are and how little action where is when the characters talk, it just looks unnatural.

Better to use "tricks" then have readers notice your tagging and break immersion by that.

 

[PervOtaku]

I tend to drop the "said" a little bit when things get into a longer back-and-forth exchange between two people with no other significant action taking place.

I think the main thing is to try not to dwell too much on using or not using "said".

 

[oggbashan]

The convoluted tricks that some authors get up to avoid 'he said / she said' make me smile. If the tag is required, use it. If it isn't, don't. It's that simple.

the "he said" tag is greatly overused in some works.
When I read "Harry Potter" in English, my eyes literally melted because he says things a lot. the tag is in 70% of dialogue lines, and seeing how short they are and how little action where is when the characters talk, it just looks unnatural.

Better to use "tricks" then have readers notice your tagging and break immersion by that.

I tend to drop the "said" a little bit when things get into a longer back-and-forth exchange between two people with no other significant action taking place.

I think the main thing is to try not to dwell too much on using or not using "said".

I think most readers tend not to notice "he said", "she said" and that trying too hard to avoid it can be more distracting.

In a two person conversation a few name mentions in the dialogue can be enough. Three or more is more complicated and it is harder to keep who is speaking clear.

Like anything in writing, overuse of "he said", "she said" can be irritating. Using it just enough is better.

But authors can agonise too much over the detail.