The beds," pursued the director, "are very much crowded against each other.

[natalia.kyrch]

Hello!

I'm confused over the word order in reporting clauses in direct speech sentences.
For example:
"I couldn't sleep," he said. "I was so excited."
or
"The beds," pursued the director, "are very much crowded against each other."

In the first example, the verb 'said' follows the noun 'he", whereas in the second example, the verb "pursued" stands before the noun "director".
Why is there a different word order in the clauses?

Thank you for your answers.

 

[Skrej]

It's purely the writer's choice. In your examples, there's some flexibility with the reporting verb and accompanying noun.

"The beds," pursued the director, "are very much crowded against each other."
"The beds," the director pursued , "are very much crowded against each other."

"I couldn't sleep," said he. "I was so excited." (It's not as natural to put the pronoun after the verb. It sounds somewhat antiquated.)
"I couldn't sleep," he said. "I was so excited."

"I couldn't sleep," said Tom. "I was so excited."
"I couldn't sleep," Tom said. "I was so excited."