He Said, She Said
Something that I’ve been seeing a lot lately is “Said is Dead” meaning that a writer shouldn’t use “said” when writing dialogue and instead use something from a provided list of extravagant dialogue tags that some blogger put together.
I disagree with this. “Said” has become the go-to word in dialogue for a reason. When we as human beings are speaking, we typically just say things. At least 90% of the time we’re not shouting, or burbling, or cackling. This should translate onto the page. Your characters seem ridiculous, and the dialogue doesn’t read smoothly if your characters are always whispering, proclaiming, or countermanding (and if any of you ever use “ejaculated” as a dialogue tag, I’ll find you and burn your house down).
This is not to say that you can never use any word other than said, but save stronger words for rare and extreme circumstances. I typically don’t like saying “show, don’t tell,” but speech can be one of the time’s where it’s true. If a character is mourning, describe what that looks like instead of using “mourned” as a dialogue tag. Body language is an integral part of dialogue that many writers neglect, don’t be one of them.
That’s my two cents for today.
Until Next time,
-Sal
