That’s what she said. (Or, how to deep-fry language.)
He said, she said, they said, we said….. Does the word said, drive you crazy? Are you forever searching for other words for said. Do you think your favourite characters need other ways of speaking? Other words for said seems to give most writers a problem.
It’s perhaps your dream or fantasy to write a story. Maybe you have a book in your head, but ‘said’ gets in the way.
Stories are what drive authors forward, words drive them wild, but said drives them mad.
That’s from this website, which lists 500 and some alternatives for “said.” And this reminds me of a project two of my classmates did in fourth grade at Sunnyside Elementary School. Emily and Sarah compiled a list of alternatives and asked the class for contributions. I must’ve written forty or fifty, partly because I was a bit ahead of the game at that age, but mostly because I’d had a crush on Sarah for two years already at that point, and it would be another five before I gave up on it. The point is that lots of people think it’s necessary to use something (anything!) other than said, even teachers, who describe lesson plans for coming up with “creative alternatives” for that dull, dreary word.
But what exactly is wrong with “said”? All these sites and blog posts encouraging people to come up with alternatives list the primary reason as some variation of “OMG said is soooo boring, LOL.”
So?
For some writers, that’s kind of the point. I don’t want the reader getting caught up in ridiculous attributions. It’s like adverbs and cayenne–use sparingly for best effect. Nothing wrong with the occasional shout or whisper or even a mumble here and there, but I’ve seen more than a few book proposals and manuscript submissions that go entire chapters (and in one the entire sample–49 pages) without using “said.” One sample chapter had two paragraphs of exposition followed by three pages of back-and-forth dialogue, none of which was attributed at all. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t get some kind of hint after a few lines of that, I lose track of who’s talking. There were no mentions of the characters (“Jeff rubbed his shoulder as he listened.”) doing anything, so it was impossible to follow. I threw the thing out.
And I’m left trying to understand what the deal is. I understand, to some extent, encouraging kids to use alternatives as a means to getting them to be imaginative and have to think on their own rather than relying on the generic standby. But at some point doesn’t there have to be a corresponding lesson about control? Isn’t this kind of like teaching a kid how to throw a proper punch but not telling them not to hit people at random on the street? Or, “Hey, here’s how to use the deep fryer,” but not reminding them that you can’t deep-fry everything, like oatmeal or apple juice. Deep frying is good, sure, but not all the time.
What else does this apply to? Does this happen in other professions?
“Hey, swing for the fences all the time, don’t worry about your batting average!”
“No, the fuschia looks good on the siding. And the porch. And the shutters. And the shrubs.”
“Monster truck tires? On a Geo? Well, you’re the mechanic. But my lawnmower, too?”
Next week we’ll get into some of the adventures from my first few weeks as editor-in-chief…
Tags: alternatives to said, attributions, dialogue, said, tags
Yeah, I think the thing to do is use said and move on. I can think of no good reason to tart that up very often, because it simply draws linguistic energy toward an unimportant part of the sentence. He enthused? He exclaimed? I always think the enthusiasm or exclamation should come through in the dialogue itself, not in the tags.
I think that’s exactly right. If someone’s angry, that should come across in what they say. Same if they’re excited or sad or indifferent or quiet et al.
It seems like a cheap & easy way to add false excitement to something that’s otherwise lifeless. If your characters are boring, just make them yell a lot!
And use lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!
You can always tell an expert! Thanks for cotrnibtunig.
I agree that 99% of the time using a different word than said is unnecessary. I sometimes think, “replied” can work in the flow without too much distraction and sounds better in some instances than said, but of course, to use it someone has to be replying.
I’ve always sort of thought that if it’s clear who’s speaking, you should leave even “he said” or “she said” out, because at that point you’re simply adding unnecessarily to your word count and most readers skim over those words if it’s clear who’s talking.
yeah, i agree. that’s why I don’t believe in spending too much energy on “said” synonyms — i think readers practically skip over that little attribution anyway.
I like the point you make about deep frying pie. People will try deep frying just about anything, though, as crazy as it seems.
Editor in Chief–now that is a title, not unlike Commander in Chief. I hope you didn’t dodge the draft during your previous life…
I don’t actually know what my title is. But I’m sort of the boss, so I’m trying out different titles to see how they fit.
I also just got a deep fryer… deep fried pie might be doable, come to think of it.
You’ll probably need to beer-batter it first.