I think the issue is not whether 'said' needs to be replaced with another word and more on whether a dialogue tag is always needed. It may be invisible to the reader, but that doesn't mean it's always the best option. As others have said, beats can make the dialogue more interesting and fit into the story better. After all, how often is our dialogue coupled with some kind of action, however small? (Some of which can really characterize us.)
no, no, no. Not verbs out of context. I mean real speaking verbs. You say "answered" instead of "in answer" for instance. I'm not advocating idiocy.
If you use "ejaculated" as the verb in a dialogue tag, you may get an appreciative snicker from immature high schoolers. Nearly everyone else will shake their heads sadly. In any case, you will have distracted the reader away from the story. Do we really need to sidetrack a serious discussion with this?
"We're not going to use magic," Ron ejaculated loudly. Order of the Phoenix, pg 242 US hardcover edition
Yes, and I reacted exactly as I said above when I read it. Not because I thought she was being puerile, but because it was a poor writing choice. Even successful, accomplished witers mess up occasionally.
Personally, i dread the word said (LOL RYHMING xD ) I always use something like, replied, muttered, told, or just nothing at all
Why? I know a lot of people seem to come to writing with this thought, but I don't get it. Have a look at a good, published novel. Nine times out of ten the author uses said. Why? Because it melts away during the reading, whereas anything else stands out like a sore thumb.
The word said does get a lot of stick from young writers, and I can't see why either. It's a shy, humble creature, who does it's job and does it well.
I suspect it's the same reason new (I don't want to say young, they're not always young) writers have a tendency to "over-describe", and use long flowery descriptions for everything. It's the fear of being boring, and the desire to be "exciting", which is especially ironic because it actually makes it more boring and unreadable to resort to such things.
I blame the advice "experienced" writers give to newer writers. So much bad advice passed around so frequently. I don't have a problem with said itself. If you're going to use a dialogue tag, that's probably what you should use. It does become invisible after awhile. (Not that this stopped people from telling me that my work had too many tags. ) My issue with tags is that I'm finding myself needing them less and less. If it's clear who's talking, then 'said' becomes kind of unnecessary, invisible or not. So I do understand the frustration with the word. I think the solution of finding a more interesting word to use in a tag is just the wrong one.
I beta'd for a writer who refused to use 'said'. Apparently she was taught it was bad by English teachers (though I have to wonder about that). After a while I had to quit reading her stories because those Tom Swifties made me have to re-read every piece of her dialogue to actually see what was being said. It was like trying to read a page dotted with big blue smileys.
Nothing at all is fine. When you do use tags, if you always use something apart from said the writing is going to be rather comical.
JK Rowling is more of a story spinner than a fantastic literary guru--and she's quite old-fashioned, too. Harry Potter reminds me of ripping yarns I read when I was a child. It's also more of an English, not US, style--adverbs, lots of description, complicated plots etc.
Yeah, I like the books. There were a few times when I cringed at a passage or two, but the Harry Potter series comprises a tremendous number of words. I expect most of us, writing that many words over a similar span of time, would produce a few cringe-worthy passages.
You mean I get to use adverbs and tons of description because i'm writing for the UK market? YAY! Unfortunately my agent also said the story has to be a bit more high brow/high concept for the UK historical novel market, because unlike in the US, they won't just lap up any old schlock because it's got swords and swooning damsels in it
Since when does Rowling write historical fiction?? I was quite demonstrably referring to that particular genre
I loving this post, really has the conversation going, im totally a noob to writing as i do it for fun and maybe (staring starry eyed at the sky) one day i'll be brave enough to try publishing, but until then I'd like to learn as much as possible. So here is my question. I understand certain words are not be used, ie demeaned was a nice example, but what about words that almost describe the way the words are produced or the emotion of the speaker, ie, barked and huffed or snorted. "stop now" he barked over the noise of the crowd (i used this as an example because it shows the words are loud, short and abrupt). "I dont want to go" she huffed crossing her hands. "thank you" he snorted in false gratitude. The temptation there to use these words is so strong so i would like to know now at the beginning what is correct. This is more complex than first thought lol. Was gonging to use an ejaculated one but thought better
