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When you are writing scenes with more than two characters, how do you help the readers keep track of who is speaking?
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One thing I hate with a passion is …’he said’, …’she shouted’, etc., etc. It makes me want to claw my eyes out. Occasional use isn’t the worst, but it smacks too much of telling, not showing. Sometimes it’s tough to avoid, but when it’s overdone, it can feel like lazy writing.
One of the first things I try to do is give my characters an individual voice. Intonation, accent, and speech style. Their personalities come through in the way they speak, so hopefully that helps a lot. Where that isn’t enough, I try to tie in the action of the characters and supporting cast around them to help direct the attention with a look, a reaction or a movement. I think there are a surprising number of ways in which a writer can divert attention without resorting to “so and so said”, so we can mix it up with a bit of work put in on our part.
Steven Smith 
I hate books where everyone gets a line, in turn, followed by he/she said. It may be grammatically correct but it does my head in because it’s so unreal.
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agreed. I think sometimes I can see where it could be used, but once it becomes noticeable then it’s irritating.
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I think it’s a mistake the majority of new writers make. Writing good stories is a steep learning curve.
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Agreed. The odd one or two aren’t too terrible, but I think, especially for new writers, once you start it snowballs and then you lose control. Once you lose control, I think it’s tough to know when and how to stop it.
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Yes indeed. I was lucky enough to win a free edit of part of my first book, and so I learned quite early on.
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I had a really good editor on my first book – she taught me a lot, this included.
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