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What do you think of "said"? Do you only use it, or do you sometimes use things like "asked," or "yelled"? What about "says"?

By all means, yes! I'm fine with "said" but I definitly want to see a lot more descriptive words. Yelled, asked, encouraged, coaxed.....etc......If I'm reading a book and they just have said the entire time, it says to me that they need to do some work on it.

I think "said" becomes redundant and over used, so I try to change it up by using more expressive words like yelled, asked, encouraged, etc.

"Said" generally works better than finding all sorts of descriptive words. These days, use of too many descriptive replacements for "said" is considered one of the marks of an inexperienced writer. The reason for this is, when people read dialogue, "said" becomes invisible for the most part, allowing the dialogue to flow more naturally. By leaving out attributions wherever possible, replacing them with actions when you need to break up a block of dialogue ("I still say he's and idiot." Jake stopped to survey the land for a moment.), and using "said" when attribution is absolutely necessary for clarity, you avoid messing with the pacing and making the dialogue sound stilted.

Said is quite fine to use, however one should not ONLY uses the word "said" over and over. Instead, use a bigger vocabulary. "Stated" "replied" "answered" etc. and then there's all those "exclaimed" "questioned" "mumbled" "giggles" etc

There's a fine line between using said far too much and using descriptive words too much. I've read books in which every time a character spoke it was in an expressive way (yelled, shouted, urged, mumbled, blurted, etc..) and I remember thinking that a bunch of them made absolutely no sense in the way they were used. On the other hand, If so and so said this and then the other said that then he said she said they said we said....ick! Drives me crazy.

anomalocaris wrote: By leaving out attributions wherever possible, replacing them with actions when you need to break up a block of dialogue ("I still say he's and idiot." Jake stopped to survey the land for a moment.), and using "said" when attribution is absolutely necessary for clarity, you avoid messing with the pacing and making the dialogue sound stilted.

Well said indeed. The use of action mixed with the dialogue is an effective way of showing the reader rather than telling the reader.

anomalocaris wrote:"Said" generally works better than finding all sorts of descriptive words. These days, use of too many descriptive replacements for "said" is considered one of the marks of an inexperienced writer. The reason for this is, when people read dialogue, "said" becomes invisible for the most part, allowing the dialogue to flow more naturally. By leaving out attributions wherever possible, replacing them with actions when you need to break up a block of dialogue ("I still say he's and idiot." Jake stopped to survey the land for a moment.), and using "said" when attribution is absolutely necessary for clarity, you avoid messing with the pacing and making the dialogue sound stilted.

I completely agree with this. I can't stand when I'm reading a story and every time a character speaks there's a different tag. It's so distracting. Said fades away so you can focus on the dialogue. When I write I mostly use said. I will change up a tag if the dialogue calls for it, so I'll use "asked" as well, and rarely will use "yelled" and "whispered". But, honestly, I like to keep tags to the minimum. I think replacing tags with actions is a great way to not only keep the pacing right, but to show instead of tell. Using "said" or any tag, tells your reader how something was said. Using a bit of action shows them.

For example, which do you think is more descriptive: "I hate you!" Josie yelled. OR Josie's face grew red and her voice shook when she spoke. "I hate you!"

Lauryn April wrote:

anomalocaris wrote:"Said" generally works better than finding all sorts of descriptive words. These days, use of too many descriptive replacements for "said" is considered one of the marks of an inexperienced writer. The reason for this is, when people read dialogue, "said" becomes invisible for the most part, allowing the dialogue to flow more naturally. By leaving out attributions wherever possible, replacing them with actions when you need to break up a block of dialogue ("I still say he's and idiot." Jake stopped to survey the land for a moment.), and using "said" when attribution is absolutely necessary for clarity, you avoid messing with the pacing and making the dialogue sound stilted.

I completely agree with this. I can't stand when I'm reading a story and every time a character speaks there's a different tag. It's so distracting. Said fades away so you can focus on the dialogue. When I write I mostly use said. I will change up a tag if the dialogue calls for it, so I'll use "asked" as well, and rarely will use "yelled" and "whispered". But, honestly, I like to keep tags to the minimum. I think replacing tags with actions is a great way to not only keep the pacing right, but to show instead of tell. Using "said" or any tag, tells your reader how something was said. Using a bit of action shows them.

For example, which do you think is more descriptive: "I hate you!" Josie yelled. OR Josie's face grew red and her voice shook when she spoke. "I hate you!"

Yes. This is exactly what I want to tell to people who say that "said is dead". Said works because it's nearly invisible. I will admit that I sometimes have characters murmur or mutter, and I know I can do much better with description, to show how my characters are saying rather than telling how. This is why I'd shy away from some dialogue tags like "questioned", because if you're using punctuation marks, the readers will know that the character is questioning something, so telling them that again becomes redundant.

I've been taught that your dialog and character actions should inform the reader of their tone.

Also usually, dialogue comes before the descriptor so if the way the character says something i.e. yells, screams, mumbles ect. is different than what the dialogue sounds like, the reader is going to have to go back and reread the passage in the correct tone.

I'll also agree with "said" being invisible for the most part. I'll usually stick with "asked" for a question because it's also fairly neutral.

I tend to avoid using it. I like to show a wide extent of my vocabulary and I feel like using a word such as 'Said' is kind of like using the words 'bad' and 'good' to describe something.

If I'm writing a book then I try to use more words that said i.e. murmured... mumbled... moaned.... replied.

Said is fine. people talk normally a lot of the time. They don't always express emotion. Putting too many adjectives may be an assault on the senses.

I use 'said' in my writing, but also I use other words too, so it doesn't get so monotonous. Yelled, grumbled, huffed, sighed and all those sorts are all fair game. Often times I won't use a descriptive word at all, just letting the conversation flow when it works out.

I agree with several of you: "said" is useful because it's invisible. I generally prefer dialogue that's worked in more naturally, but if you have to explicitly indicate that someone is speaking, "said" is pleasingly unobtrusive.