How you say it

 When you are supplying attribution to a direct quote, it's best to follow two simple patterns.

The first: If the attribution is a name only, put said after the name. "Said suffices," John McIntyre said. 

The second: If the name is paired with an explanatory phrase, put said before the name. "Don't go all Tom Swifty on me," said John McIntyre, the author of The Old Editor Says.

The reason for this is that a flat-footed said coming at the end of the phrase looks anticlimactic. 

And, as always, keep mind that in nearly all cases, said does suffice. Resist the temptation to aver, affirm, asseverate, avow, declare, disclose, divulge, drawl, exclaim, expatiate, gasp, impart, intone, maintain, mumble, murmur, mutter, note, observe, opine, profess, quip,* recount, relate, remark, retort, reveal,** snap, sniff, snivel, snort, splutter, state, titter, wheeze, whine, or whisper. 

*I was on a desk that performed a quip search on every story a particular reporter filed, it being her impression that quipped could be substituted for said in all instances, and so she did. 

**I worked with another writer who regularly wrote revealed for the most obvious and mundane statements.