I've always beleived that the said should come after the person's name but was told in that particular thread putting said last was jarring.
I also read that putting said first is the sign of an amature. What do other people think about this?
I'd go for he said every time.
If that person was really jarred out of the story by that, they must not read much. I can't think of a single book in which an author doesn't.
"X said" was to be used if you followed said with a '.'
"said X" was to be used if you followed X with a ',' an introduced some tidbit about the person saying the words.
ie
"I like you," James said.
"You really shouldn't take this so serious," said James, senior judge on the panel.
Granted this is journalistic style but I generally follow it.
Now, some writers get around this by omitting dialogue tags, but that bugs the living daylights out of me unless you're very far in the middle of a dialogue exchange between two people and it's VERY clear who is who. I don't think it's a good idea to open a story w/omitted dialogue tags.
So...my suggestion in this case would be to add a "beat" - some type of action tag with the dialogue one. Another poster in this thread used an example of it.
"Up," said Fisk, his face inscrutable. (I'm reading an author right now who uses this word a lot. I find it kind of silly since it's not a word I think is used often, but hey - it's an idea!)
"Up," said Fisk as he pulled down on his jacket, making sure his numerous medals were parallel to the floor.
or something.
As a general rule, I don't think there's any problem with switching around the order as the dialogue and story flow require/permit, however I am a visual processor and I did notice the similarity (the dialogue lines in question were of similar lengths) of the two "Fisk said."s
Edited to change terrible spelling and say: I also wouldn't want to waste the thirteen lines with uneeded words, but there could probably be a way around the repetition if I looked into it.
[This message has been edited by darklight (edited July 04, 2007).]
Even though the latter is the more common, I'm sticking with it. Besides, I recently read an alternate history novel that did it just as I did. (I wonder which writer was responsible for putting it that way, the SF writer or the politician?)
On the other hand, "said he" is outright and always wrong.
Lynda
In a conversation between two people, I usually use, "said Joe" at the end of Joe's speech. But when a third person joins in, I begin the sentence with "Joan said". I also use that form if Joan is going to be speaking for more than one paragraph.
The other way I find annoying, at least in literature. The rules may be different in news and such.