robin_karif is right in several ways, but I think that I can add a bit here or there, if I may.
Paragraphs in non-dialog narration are generally used to differentiate ideas or themes, however trivial in comparison to the whole. For instance, one paragraph may show Jane leaving her house, while the next has a description of her walking down the street. It's the same trip, but the focus is different. On the other hand, if the whole trip to the store is given in six sentences, then it's given its own single paragraph...English 101.
Paragraphs in dialog, even in a conventionally written story, are a more subtle beast. Generally, they are used to differentiate speakers, but there are two exceptions right off the bat.
First, when a quick interjection or exclamation follows a speech too soon to be excluded from the commentary on that speech, it can be added into the same paragraph. For instance:
"What we once called love has become nothing but the biggest excuse for commercialism," Randy announced, with various shouts of "Boring!" and "Loser!" coming from the crowd.
Second, when a single speech has grown too long for a single paragraph, it is given a special format, with beginning quotes at the start of each paragraph, but only one end-quote at the very end (mass or block quotes are treated differently, of course).
Otherwise, it's (paragraph) speaker A, (paragraph) speaker B, etc. as usual. But even here, there can be problems that individual style probably has to address.
The "he said" stuff is an even more complicated mess. Basically, comments about the speaker or the speech attached to a quote are meant to differentiate speakers when there are more than two or the tête-à-tête is vague enough that it becomes hard to tell which person is saying what. One should never get stuck just alternating "he said", "she said", "he said", "she said". There should be enough clues in the quotes themselves to be able to drop some of these without losing clarity.
Using synonyms for "said" is also a generally bad habit, since they are basically redundancies which the quotes should make clear. For instance:
"The car wasn't just red, it was cherry metal flake," James clarified.
Here, James is obviously clarifying the term "red", so we don't have to be told the obvious. "James shouted" can be done away with by using an exclamation mark (sparingly). "James suggested" should never have to be used after a quote. These synonyms have their uses in other places, as in, "What was it that James suggested?" Using them to over-explain a quote is logically a lazy way to write. A better way to illustrate speech or just to give information indirectly related to the speech is to add comments within that paragraph or in their own. For instance:
"How many times have I told you, no wire hangers!" Mother was so angry that the veins were popping out in her neck.
There is no reason to add "Mother shouted" here. The exclamation mark does that and the extra comment illustrates her mood apart from the subject of the quote.
no subject
Paragraphs in non-dialog narration are generally used to differentiate ideas or themes, however trivial in comparison to the whole. For instance, one paragraph may show Jane leaving her house, while the next has a description of her walking down the street. It's the same trip, but the focus is different. On the other hand, if the whole trip to the store is given in six sentences, then it's given its own single paragraph...English 101.
Paragraphs in dialog, even in a conventionally written story, are a more subtle beast. Generally, they are used to differentiate speakers, but there are two exceptions right off the bat.
First, when a quick interjection or exclamation follows a speech too soon to be excluded from the commentary on that speech, it can be added into the same paragraph. For instance:
"What we once called love has become nothing but the biggest excuse for commercialism," Randy announced, with various shouts of "Boring!" and "Loser!" coming from the crowd.
Second, when a single speech has grown too long for a single paragraph, it is given a special format, with beginning quotes at the start of each paragraph, but only one end-quote at the very end (mass or block quotes are treated differently, of course).
Otherwise, it's (paragraph) speaker A, (paragraph) speaker B, etc. as usual. But even here, there can be problems that individual style probably has to address.
The "he said" stuff is an even more complicated mess. Basically, comments about the speaker or the speech attached to a quote are meant to differentiate speakers when there are more than two or the tête-à-tête is vague enough that it becomes hard to tell which person is saying what. One should never get stuck just alternating "he said", "she said", "he said", "she said". There should be enough clues in the quotes themselves to be able to drop some of these without losing clarity.
Using synonyms for "said" is also a generally bad habit, since they are basically redundancies which the quotes should make clear. For instance:
"The car wasn't just red, it was cherry metal flake," James clarified.
Here, James is obviously clarifying the term "red", so we don't have to be told the obvious. "James shouted" can be done away with by using an exclamation mark (sparingly). "James suggested" should never have to be used after a quote. These synonyms have their uses in other places, as in, "What was it that James suggested?" Using them to over-explain a quote is logically a lazy way to write. A better way to illustrate speech or just to give information indirectly related to the speech is to add comments within that paragraph or in their own. For instance:
"How many times have I told you, no wire hangers!" Mother was so angry that the veins were popping out in her neck.
There is no reason to add "Mother shouted" here. The exclamation mark does that and the extra comment illustrates her mood apart from the subject of the quote.