I agree. Given how many different version of okay have been provided so far in this thread to describe the same thing, the chances are that different readers will infer different meanings from whatever version Howard chooses. Better to just describe it in the narrative. It also strikes me as being a little- text speak.
It's a fine little jog, getting your meaning and inflection across to the reader without calling undue attention to your method. It's very hard to make a determination in this instance, because we have no context. "Okay," he stammered—that doesn't quite work either, does it? Even though the purists among us probably can't find a reason to ditch it, it doesn't convey the sense of sound or hesitancy that this instance needs to have. When you see the word "Okay" written out as it is, I can pretty much guarantee you're going to read it as if it's just said straight out. If you modify the way it's said after the fact ...as in '"Okay," he stammered,' that draws attention to the fact that you read it wrong the first time. This requires mental backtracking. You could put the speech tag in there first thing instead: He stammered, "Okay." But that's clunky as well. So put your 'okay' in context. Maybe give us a whole section of what you've written to critique? We could give you better feedback if we saw more of the passage you're working on.
As the storyteller, I see myself as a Director, and the reader is the Actor (and the entire cast). I'm going to trust them to contribute their own interpretation of how the scene should be imagined. So, in prose, I'd do it like this: But that's just how I'd do it. - Dave Olden
I would not use anything that slowed the reader down. Dialogue is not real speech. It is a made up speech. Real speech never sounds real when written in fiction. Bad dialogue can dump a story faster than a blank page. Here is an example from Sol Stein: Actual conversation; She: How are you? He; How am I? Oh I'm fine. How are you? She: And the family? He: The family is great. Everybody's well. Reading that is a bore. Look at how Sol Stein changes those lines. She: How are you? He: I suppose I'm okay. She Why, what's the matter? He: I guess you haven't heard.
