Instead of said, you can use......

I stick to said, whispered, shouted and maybe one or another now and then.

But I try hard to use no tags at all, the action, and what they say, should speak for me. Tags are for loosers :-p

But, nice list!

No! We love "murmured." And "added." And "replied." And "hissed." And...

*flails*

I stick to said, whispered, shouted and maybe one or another now and then.

But I try hard to use no tags at all, the action, and what they say, should speak for me. Tags are for loosers :-p

But, nice list!

Tags are good. Like all else for the wise, in moderation, yes? Sometimes you've just got to use dialogue tags unless you want the talk to sound awkward and the action stilted. ^_^

That's a very long list, and very helpful!

But I seem to have a curse on me that I have to add a 'said' word in a sentence. Anyone else?

RR*

Finding one thousand replacements for said will do you more harm than good. Said is your friend, and the sooner you embrace that, the sooner you'll improve.

A lot of the time, you don't need said at all.

Julie closed her eyes and let the tear fall across the contours of her face. 'Get the hell out of my house.'


'I told you before.' Harold turned back on him. 'I don't want no damn leaflet!'


'Maybe tomorrow.' Amy flicked her hair and walked away.



Like I said, if you start replacing said with anything you can find, your writing will suffer. Using the extreme of using said as an argument for said-bookisms is extremely silly. It's like using the effects of 100% oxygen to support not breathing.

Also, words like shouted, yelled and whispered should be used sparingly. You don't need to tell the reader something they should aleady know. If I can't tell some guy is shouting before the tag, you've lost as a writer. Never used adjectives to describe tags, either; it's even worse. A reader should know how someone speaks by what they do and what they say. If a reader can't, then you've lost, and you need to rewrite.

- Andy

Eeeeh, I end up rewrting a lot, lol...

I have no idea what I do when I write. Probably use 'said' all the time. Of course, a few synonims can be found, but i normally stick with 'said'. -Up to a point, of course. I was reading this dialogue today, and after each " there was 'blah blah blah SAID' or vice versa, 'said blah blah blah'. (Normally I don't even realize that, these posts made 'said' somehow grab my attention today...)
However, I do not think that upper mentioed dialogues are common... Probably I just had the luck to stumble upon a crappy book (long, dreary, and booring. Stopped reading on the fifth page, stopped skimming near the middle. And here goes reading 'to improve you english'.

P.S. REALLY nice list. All rights reserved?

You know you repeated a few words like 7 times. I'm just pointing it out and i thought it was kinda funny.