What are your tips and tricks for avoiding dialog tags?

You are making good points, NoGoodNobu. I try to be open-minded. And at the end, I will look at my work and make a decision: more or less tags/beats whatever. But using only "said", not even answered or whispered (if it is whispered) seems silly to me.

 

Agreed in full. They only work if the story is cartoonish. I usually cite Douglas Adams in this sort of conversation. The narrative would lack a certain something without the alternative dialogue tags. But, like you said, it is cartoonish, just so happens that cartoonish fits for the Hitchhikers series.

 

"Whispered" probably offers information, so I don't generally object to it. "Answered" is very likely to be redundant, because the words of the dialogue likely make it clear that it's an answer. I don't like redundancy; it's distracting, and it can imply that the reader is not bright enough to follow what's going on.

 

I think if there are only two people talking you can and should avoid using too many tags, once we know what order the dialogue is going in then tags aren't needed. I think when it's more than two people speaking then they're needed a matter of practicality and should be used where you can. I also prefer it when they're simple: I'm happy seeing a page full of he/she said(s), but when your characters are grimacing, gesticulating, shouting, that all seems unnecessary and can distract fromm the dialogue itself.