forum "Said" and why you SHOULD use it

Started January 16, 2018 by @Masterkey

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UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT. TAKE THE TIME TO READ, IT COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE (and it would be nice to get a debate going).

I think using "said" for most of your dialogue tags is extremely important. EXTREMELY. I'm really passionate about this, guys. XD

Using a bunch of words other than "said" makes the writing style feel forced and awkward. You really should be using "said" most often, and other words less often. Things like "replied" or "asked" are also fine, but not too much. The reason for this is that "said" is a filler word, like "the," that readers won't really process, and instead all their focus will be on what's more important, like the actual words the characters are saying, the body language they use, the setting, the atmosphere, etc etc. Reading something like "proclaimed," "uttered," "voiced," "quipped," "barked," WHATEVER, tends to jerk the reader out of the story. It forces them to focus on that word, which makes the reading experience rocky and pulls them out of your world, which is what you definitely don't want. I think if you're gonna describe the way someone is saying something, don't do it like this:

"Looks like the greenie messed up pretty bad again, huh fellas?" he sneered.

Do it like this: "Looks like the greenie messed up pretty bad again, huh fellas?" he said, turning to me with a pitying smile. It was humiliating.

Now the readers can focus on the atmosphere of what's going on. I feel like you have so much more room for describing HOW he said it without replacing "said" with another verb. "Sneered" could mean so many things, and I feel like it's overused. In the first line, was the bully's face angry? Gloating? Condescending? We don't really know. But in the second one, you know the exact way the bully is mocking him and exactly how it feels. It's sarcastic and humiliating. Readers will skip over "said," and then zero in on the body language. It makes for a more smooth reading experience, and won't pull them out of the story. You could even eliminate the "said" tag and just do: "Looks like the greenie messed up pretty bad again, huh fellas?" He turned to me with a pitying smile. It was humiliating.

It's okay to clarify when they're yelling, or crying, or whispering, or stuff like that of course, but when you could easily replace the word with "said," "asked," or "replied," do it.

READ THESE ARTICLES, FORMULATE YOUR OWN OPINION, AND COME BACK TO ME. They're not too long, and they're very helpful:

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/keep-it-simple-keys-to-realistic-dialogue-part-ii
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

FINALLY, SOMEONE PUTS THIS OUT THERE!
I fully agree with you, Masterkey. You worded this wonderfully.

Respect!

I semi-agree. You have a good argument!
Words that mean the same thing as said, such as the aforementioned ‘voiced’ or ‘uttered’ should never appear in a book. They have literally no meaning.
However, I believe that words that describe the speaker’s voice (Is it gravelly? Is it breathy? Is it loud or is it quiet?) help enhance the dialogue and helps the reader hear it in their mind.
I think you’ve convinced me to use said a little more though! ^-^

I agree, although, sometimes other tags do work. Sometimes. Although, that had me thinking about my own writing, and I think that my different tags are what make it uneven and choppy. Thank you for pointing this out!

Additional thought:
Some words are linked with actions. For example, 'barked.' This is often used in conjunction with giving orders and can lead the reader to infer that this is an authoritative (and maybe kind of bossy) figure. Sometimes, it's not the dialogue that matters, but the actions.

Tries her hardest to come up with a nice, polite, and concise counter-argument.
…
I'm sorry, I just can't. I literally cannot take your argument seriously. While I do agree that there are some dialogue "tags" as you call them, that should not be used. However, I seem to be that one random weirdo who thoroughly enjoys reading a diverse range of dialogue tags, along with the action. Words to me have a feeling, a color, and using them correctly can help the flow of the story. For example, if I was to follow your recommendations and write a scene like this:

"You're pathetic," he said, pushing my head aside with the barrel of his gun. I squeezed by balled up fists, hoping for someone–anyone–to come and rescue me.
"No," I said. I gritted my teeth as tears fell down my face.
"Oh look, the little fairy is crying. How sad," he said, gripping my face with his hand and staring down into my eyes with that cruel, cruel smile on his face.

I literally can't take it seriously with all of the "said"s. Especially if it was an audio book, and I could physically hear every "said" that was used. (The cringe, IT'S UNBEARABLEEE~ XDD)

I find dialogue tags very useful in helping to understand the voice, and feeling behind what each of the characters are saying. Every dialogue tag has a feeling to me, a color, even actions have feeling. You don't have to add things like "sadly" to a verb like "sighed." a sigh is a sad verb, you sigh when you're frustrated, or sad. If you were angry, you'd "huff" or "exhale sharply".

So instead of all of the "said"s, I'd rewrite it like this:
"You're pathetic," he sneered through clenched teeth, pushing my head aside with the barrel of his gun. I squeezed by balled up fists, hoping for someone–anyone–to come and rescue me.
"No." My voice was feeble and shaky. I gritted my teeth as tears fell down my face.
"Oh look, the little fairy is crying. How sad," he drawled in a sarcastic tone, gripping my face with his hand and staring down into my eyes with that cruel, cruel smile on his face.

Now this is not to say that I don't ever want to hear the word "said" in a story. I do believe that "said" can and should be used in writing, just not as often as many writers, especially early writers, use it. Using "said" all of the time can lead to the dialogue being weak, and un-engaging, removing any emotion from the story and instead replacing it with the monotonous tone of "said." This is also not to say that you should constantly be looking for new and interesting dialogue tags to put in every time a character speaks. Just…be aware of the target audience you're trying to write to, is what I'm trying to say. Don't try to generalize everyone into a category, and write something that you, as a reader, would enjoy and find compelling. Pick your audience, and go with it. You don't have to please everyone. ^-^

(OkaythatwasreallylongandIapologize. runs away!)

I feel that when used correctly, as @Mish did, other tags can really improve a story, but if it is just a tag by itself, said is the way to go. Barked, sneered, they can all be expanded on to enhance the story, but if the tag is being left alone, said seems to be a better option.

I don't know. "voiced" and "uttered" are gross but I think "sneered" or "drawled" or "barked" could actually work, depending on how they're used/what the context is. I do agree though, "said" should be used almost always. Most of the time it does make it sound awkward and forced to use other words. Especially when you're reading something where "said" is almost never used and it's just "retorted", "replied", "vocalized", etc.

I don't agree. Sure, said is an easier word to process, but it doesn't nearly explain half so much as other words. I mean, not if it sounds awkward, but words that fit the situation are nearly always better to use.

Personal opinion, its a lil of everything
To many saids, cringe
Too few saids, cringe
Use dialogue tags other than said sparingly, but do use them. Said is a great way to keep the atmosphere, and, oftentimes, someone's words convey how they say it
But, there is a bit of style. I happen to love using said, with a comma and then a lil description, facial or tone or whatever, just works for me.
Do what makes sense with your style

Also, using said a lot means that in order to convey tone or style or whatever, you have to use adverbs, and adverbs are the DEVIL. I've seen a lot of advice from writers, and one thing that I've noticed a lot is this: get rid of your adverbs. It's much better to use a descriptive word than to use a boring word and an adverb.

AGREED! My writing teacher had us write paragraphs only using said once. It drove me INSANE

Honestly, I'd take reading something with only said as a dialogue tag than reading something that sounds like My Immortal in my head any day.

If you are trying to convey a specific intent or feeling with the dialogue and can best accomplish it through words like asked or quipped, but most of the time said is a word that fades into the background that doesn't hinder the flow of conversation when two characters are talking.

You don't want to "interrupt" the story. Changing it is, just like you said, changing "the"

I agree with the idea that the word, "said" can be used too much and too little. If it complicates the reading of a story, such as, a simple conversation, body movement does a much better job at conveying than a pitch change at every sentence. But in emotionally-ranged scenes, it's good to add a couple splashes of colorful "Saids".

So Mish, thanks for writing a detailed response, you convinced me to feel less of an enemy toward dialogue tags that aren't "said." And it made me feel better for writing a detailed post on the word "said" in the first place. Heh. But I still gotta defend "said." XD I thought your first example of lines of dialogue only using the word "said" could have eliminated dialogue tags all together. Like so:

"You're pathetic." He pushed my head aside with the barrel of his gun. I squeezed by balled up fists, hoping for someone–anyone–to come and rescue me.
"No." I gritted my teeth as tears fell down my face. (OR ALTERNATIVELY, "I said, gritting my teeth…" yada yada yada)
"Oh look, the little fairy is crying. How sad." He gripped my face with his hand and stared down into my eyes with that cruel, cruel smile on his face.

See? If you don't have to use a dialogue tag, I say don't! And that's simply because you don't need it. If words in your story aren't necessary, say goodbye. Your second, more colorful dialogue example seemed melodramatic to me… I guess this is coming down to personal preference.

I'll agree with you on what you said here: "I find dialogue tags very useful in helping to understand the voice, and feeling behind what each of the characters are saying. Every dialogue tag has a feeling to me, a color, even actions have feeling." But I'll say that, again, most dialogue tags don't accomplish the kind of description you want. I think that simply using said, or nothing at all, and then using the body language or just flat out describing the person's voice is more effective. Dialogue tags are limiting, simply because the more descriptive the dialogue tag, the more cringe. So then you have to opt for less cringey ones, which happen to be overused and less descriptive. THEN if you wanted to describe the person's voice even further after using the colorful dialogue tag, you end up sounding repetitive. In my opinion.

If you're the type of person that notices every "said," I'm sorry. I'll admit, that must be annoying. But for me, my mind skips over it just like the word "the."

And in response to the rest of you, I agree that you CAN use dialogue tags other than said. You totally can. I think you SHOULD even, just to make the dialogue more diverse, as long as "said" still makes up the majority.

OKAY THE END

THANK YOU FINALLY SOME PEOPLE AGREE
When you use too many words without any 'said,' you have no bases to go off of for normal speech. If your person always mumbles or yells, then that would be their said, and when you use those other words all the time, they seem more boring and overused, overcomplicated.