: Writing dialogue, present or past tense "said" This may seem like an off-topic question, but it's really more about writing than about the grammar. I use a lot of dialogue in my writing, sometimes

Vote Up Vote Down

I'd suggest that you read for flow, aloud to yourself. If something, when read aloud to yourself, sounds right after you've given it some rest to read objectively. You're fine. A lot of authors on this issue are not consistent with their tenses, and their editors allow them to be because, when read aloud, the book is just fine.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

This is just wrong. Or Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice should be rewritten! As clearly shown on page 1, she uses a mix of present & past - past dialogue tags & present dialogue.

Pride and prejudice - mix of present & past tense - past tense novel. In addition, the first sentence is present & last one is past. Using "says" for tags is just weird.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it."
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
"Do not you want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.
"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."
This was invitation enough.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

It doesn't matter how much dialogue you have. If your story (the narration) is in present tense, then all the verbs have to be in present tense. All the dialogue tags, all the narration, everything. The only exception is if you're talking about something which happened in the past relative to the present moment of the story.
[Bolding is for emphasis, not because the story needs it.]

I swallow and look at Mac.
He looks back at me, just as frightened.
"Tell me the truth, should I be scared?" he asks me.
I answer, "I don't know."
When we left town an hour ago, we were tired and hungry, but uninjured. We walked for an hour before we fell into the crevasse. Now we're tired and hungry, Mac has a broken arm, and my ankle is twisted. I don't know if we can get out of this.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

Avoid the tags and you avoid the problem.

I swallow and look at Mac.
He looks back at me, just as frightened.
"Tell me the truth, should I be scared?"
I hesitate. "I don't know."

Most readers will assume that any un-tagged quote came from the most recently mentioned character. Even when the speaker is unclear, most readers are willing to read a few more lines to figure it out.
In the case above, either character might have said "Tell me the truth...", but "I don't know" is obviously a response from the POV character. This clarifies that Mac spoke the earlier question which makes the now-absent tags redundant.

(0)