Said
Posted: 24 May 2014, 08:24
What do you think of "said"? Do you only use it, or do you sometimes use things like "asked," or "yelled"? What about "says"?
Discussion Forums about Books and Reading | Said
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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: 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.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.
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.Lauryn April wrote: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.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.
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!"