TripleBackstab

Hi, I'm working on my first novel and I need insight on what good use of dialogue tags actually is.

It's confusing because as you write more you can either be consistent and use the same generic ones or try to give them flair. I've chosen to stick with the simple tags but I might not be using them the right way or in the right places.

Example:

Jack said -vs- Jack says

Said Jack -vs- Says Jack

Jack said (as he did something) -vs- Jack says, (doing something)

(Doing something) Jack says etc

Is there a proper explanation of this somewhere? Said is past tense right? But should you keep everything present tense (says, leading to overuse) if it isn't a flashback? Just trying to make sure he

Hi, this is a scene from my first novel in progress, a sci-fi adventure narrative soon to be finished as part of a long running series I have planned. I've hit a few stumbles where I'm not sure if I'm doing anything correctly, and I need to know what direction I'm going in. If it's bad, I need to know that so I can fix it. If it's good or getting there then help me emphasize that. But if I continue as I am now I won't be able to know and correct critical mistakes that I might be making in my writing. I'm untrained and have no practice or ability, maybe someone that knows more than me can give me that critical eye.

My goal is to make the novels content easy to digest but to also be a bit exp