On the subject of speaker attributions, I think it's important to remember why writers use them -- to let the reader know who said what. So you don't even need an attribution for every line of dialogue. As someone said, it's annoying to read:
"Clark, I can't find the Wilson file," Lois said.
"Gee, Lois, I can't remember where you put it either," Clark said.
"Well, I need it to finish this story," Lois said.
One way to avoid a string of "saids" is to either make the dialogue clear as to who is speaking. (In the above example, it might be clear with no "saids.") If the sentence before indicated that Lois and Clark were at her desk, it would be clear that Lois said the first sentence, then Clark, etc. Another way, which got discussed earlier, is to use "beats" to show who is talking. And it's always good to remember with any technique that moderation is the key. You don't want too many beats any more than you want too many "saids" or too many other attributions.
If I were writing a fic with the three lines above, I would probably do it like this:
Lois flipped through the stack of manila folders on her desk, her frustration growing with each file.
"Clark, I can't find the Wilson file."
"Gee, Lois, I can't remember where you put it either."
"Well, I need it to finish this story."
The beat at the beginning lets us know Lois's mood and indicates that she's the first one to speak. From there, it's pretty clear who said what.
Schoolmarm
