Evidence

[Character] says, "[short quote]" ([where]).

The basic drop. Name the speaker. Cut the quote. Put the act and scene in brackets.

Lady Macbeth says, "Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under 't" (Act 1, Scene 5).

Do not start the sentence with the quote. Put a short lead-in first.

When [event], [character] calls it "[quote]".

When the timing of the line is the point.

When the king is dead, Macbeth calls what he has done murder sleep: Macbeth does murder sleep.

The line "[quote]" comes just after [what happened].

When you need the reader to feel the gap between two moments.

The line Out, damned spot, out, I say! comes after four acts of her saying blood will wash off.

The narrator calls [him] "[quote]".

Novels. Dickens and Stevenson talk about people. That talk is evidence too.

The narrator calls Scrooge Hard and sharp as flint. Flint is a cold stone. It can make a spark. Scrooge never lets one out.

[Character] answers with "[quote]".

A reply. The line is doing work because of what came just before.

When Malcolm says take it like a man, Macduff answers, But I must also feel it as a man.

Cut it. Keep the words that do the work.

Every time. A twelve-word quote is usually a three-word quote with padding.

From Macbeth's long line about having no spur, you only need two bits: "vaulting ambition" and "falls on th' other". The rest is him circling. Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself