Said is Dead – Infographic… | Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

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18 thoughts on “Said is Dead – Infographic…”

Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.

Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
This is great.

I amazes me that there is still so much argument on this point. My stance: there is no real right or wrong with this. It’s more what works for the author and His or Her style. I’m not a fan of using said instead, as it slows things down. I much prefer adding movement, emotion, etc. to the dialogue, otherwise it becomes static and it’s just a bunch of folks standing around talking. Also, when said is said too often, it jumps of the page and pummels me into bored oblivion. Not a fan.

For others, it works. It will never be my preference, though.

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The Story Reading Ape says:

February 7, 2016 at 18:36

Thanks Dellani – I think you’ve probably got it right – if ‘said’ appears too often… 👍😃

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I mostly use said or asked, but sometimes emphasis calls for a more descriptive word. You want dialogue tags to mostly be invisible.

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I disagree with this info-graphic. ‘Said’ is the accepted tag. 😉

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The Story Reading Ape says:

February 7, 2016 at 15:50

The consensus of opinion seems to agree with you Tess 😃

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Judith Barrow says:

February 7, 2016 at 19:42

And me Tess, I always tell my students that words that used to appear in the Billy Bunter books are a no no. .. ‘expostulates, admonishes, remonstrates, ejaculates… especially ejaculates!! Can never understand why the whole class descends into chaos.

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Sue Coletta says:

February 7, 2016 at 20:53

Agreed. “Said” is the industry standard, but there’s no reason we can’t tossed a substitute in here and there to spice things up.

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This is a good one.

Good morning, Cowboy.

Sent from my iPad

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Although I’d love to say that variety is “in,” Ellenbest24 and franklparker wrote the best responses. And so succinctly. 🙂

It’s been drilled into my head since my first writing course that people glance at who-says-what and it doesn’t interfere with their reading pleasure. If more than “said” or “asked” follows the name, it irritates readers (sort of like the kid who bangs on the door while you’re meditating and asks, “What’cha doin’ mom?”) 🙂

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The Story Reading Ape says:

February 7, 2016 at 13:37

😀

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I’m with ellenbest. You could say that speech tags are dead, full stop. Most editors prefer a simple ‘said’ where it is needed to clarify which person is speaking, otherwise, leave them out. They are invisible to readers. As for ‘how they said it’, it’s better to indicate this by describing an accompanying action. ‘He turned away.’ ‘She touched his cheek’, etc.

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