Completely agree with this. Using anything else just distracts the reader from what's being said. -that's how I see it at least.
This is quite interesting. Personally i do my best to indicate any change in my characters tone of voice; I feel it adds more drama and makes the scene more dramatic. When there's just a lines of text on lots of "saids" I just picture everyone speaking in a monotone voice or speaking way too dramatically.
it's usually better to show how the person feels, rather than tacking on adverbs, to tell us, such as with, 'he said, sadly' or whatever...
Yes, this. Oftentimes I find people use saidisms (or dialogue at all, while we're on the topic) to mask an inability to create a scene in a more elegant fashion.
I rarely see that... in the novels I read. To me Writing said and something like sadly really draws it out. Funny thing is, I remember being taught in I believe middle school to avoid using said and think of more creative words. In other words I feel some English teachers may be drilling these bad ideologies into young writers' heads lol
Most English teachers are not all that well equipped to teach creative writing. I know that's kind of a strange statement, but creative writing is pretty low on the priority list in English curricula.
I completely agree with that statement. Though I gotta say my English teacher for my last two years of high school made us way better readers. I mean it was painful and we didn't understand how that would improve our writing. Now I understand of course. He was one hell of an exception.
Funny thing...We are reading The Great Gatsby in one of my classes, and Fitzgerald uses tons of saidisms. Who knew?
I didn't really care too much for that book, but the movie we watched in class was pretty damn good! There's more than one and I forget which one we watched...
Sadly the only bit of The Great Gatsby that I've heard was via South Park and their A.D.H.D. episode. I think that alone makes me a terrible writer.
Not really, I skipped over the conclusion and spark noted it for the test. I found the pacing majorly boring. The movie awesome though! And it actually stayed very true to the book (the adaptation I saw). So it was a great story I just couldn't stand how it was written. I know a lot of people that don't like the Old Man and the Sea, yet I love that book! I can't recall the saidisms though... maybe that means he did a good job lol
Essay writing--that's what they focus on. When we take the PSAE's and the ACT's... essay writing is what those writing sections are based on. My 3rd grade teacher always encouraged us to write something other than 'said'. "You can write asked; or told; or say, she said loudly."
good thing she was only teaching third grade, so most of her students would have forgotten that bad advice by the time they wanted to be serious writers... your problem is a too-good memory! ;-)
I got that throughout middle school too. It may be because they are trying to expand our vocabulary. But yeah for a long time I was avoiding the word 'said'. Luckily one day I said to myself "This word just flows nicely!" and my teachers never noticed.
"But, I thought the game started at one." "It does start at one. And you're a jackass!" George said. "Whoo hoo!" John said. "Would you. . . come with me?" Sarah said. "Look out!" Jake said. I think that there is a discrepancy between the statement and the word 'said'. Anyway, I believe that the idea of using said 90% of the time is a bit-- ah-- what is the word I am looking for? Limited? That is, there is more than two ways to skin a cat. Tags and beats. Descriptions BEFORE the dialog can also work. Have your character say the name of who will respond. Say, "John said to Paul," and then you need put no description when Paul speaks. There are probably other ways.
