If you erased all dialogue tags, could your reader still tell who was speaking?

Pick your spot well.

She fell in love even though my mouth was grotesquely swollen. #storytime #writingtips #storytelling #writingabook

Even Hannibal Lector has a refined palate and exquisite taste. Sauron is pure evil but we’re not exactly hanging out with him in LOTRs. Most of the time we spend with Darth Vader is before he turns evil, but in the end, we see the goodness that remains in him.

In the show “1923”, a prequel to “Yellowstone”, two characters are at sea in a small tugboat, and the journey isn’t easy. The seas are rough, the boat is small, and the food is dreadful. Many writers might stop at that problem. But instead, the writers of the show stacked on a new problem: the captain dies. Now they have to pilot the ship by themselves. Then they stack on a new problem: they run into a ghost ship and capsize the boat. Then they add another problem: one of them is stuck beaneath the boat. Then a fourth problem! They are surrounded by sharks! Find a scene in your manuscript that has a single problem, and practice “problem stacking.” #1923 #yellowstone #writingtips #writingabook #storytime