Alternative Words for 'Said'

The Strokes:

s a m i.:

It's actually better to stick to "said" unless absolutely necessary.
Other tags tend to sound overdramatic or amateur, and can draw attention to the word and away from the story.

Agreed. Said isn't always a bad thing.

The Use and Abuse of Dialogue Tags

That explains far better than I can.

I agree with that. Sometimes 'said' simply fits best.

Also, I don't think that dialogue tags are always necessary - not after every piece of dialogue. Sometimes, without tags, readers can still be clear on who's saying what.

Audrey T.:

The Strokes:

s a m i.:

It's actually better to stick to "said" unless absolutely necessary.
Other tags tend to sound overdramatic or amateur, and can draw attention to the word and away from the story.

Agreed. Said isn't always a bad thing.

The Use and Abuse of Dialogue Tags

That explains far better than I can.

I agree with that. Sometimes 'said' simply fits best.

Also, I don't think that dialogue tags are always necessary - not after every piece of dialogue. Sometimes, without tags, readers can still be clear on who's saying what. Just saying. :file:

Sometimes. There's always a place for everything.

I find not using dialogue tags either leads into a talking head scenario (nothing else is going on but the dialogue) or unpleasant confusion.

We're condition to simply read past the word "said", having it register only as a label.

It's just in case people don't want to use the word "said".

Thanks for the list! It's very helpful.

This needs to be stickied! Thank you so much. I curse the word said! :XD

This list needs my favorite.
"mumbled"
People (like me) do mumble a lot!

This is going to come in handy. Thank you so much. :cheese:

you know some people say that
using said and asked
and simple well known words like that are best
because the mind just reads over them...
i don't really get that.
i'm the type who'll count how many times a person used it
then try to descreatly mention it.
said gets annoying....
is basicly my whole point.

but this is awesome.
thanks
:D

Thank you so much!
:D

I needed this so bad.

Thank you for posting this, I tend to get so tired of 'said'.

No problem :cute:

Thanks for this.
Sometimes I just get this sudden realisation when writing a story that I sound like Enid Blyton.
And while I like the books she wrote she never used any substitute for said, and it became very tedious and annoying.
And sometimes said just isn't enough...

I love finding other ways of saying "said". That way when I use it occasionally it actually sounds like a word worth using. This was a clever idea for a topic actually; it could really help people when they get stuck .

I just went to this right now for chapter 2 of Lucifer's Angel :XD
Someone sticky this now :cheese:

I used to do this with my fourth grade class as a daily activity. :XD
I'm so glad someone else thougth of it. So useful!

I was reading a book about some story editor for a publishing house about breaking into fiction.

She basically said that if you use the 'basic' labels that it's preferable over using a multiude of them.

:shifty

I mean, she knows what she's talking about. She's rejected books that go nuts with the label crap.

^I agree with that to a certain extent. People can definitely go overboard and forget that there is nothing wrong with the word "said", but I also feel that the overuse of any word makes both writing and reading get a little stale, so I try to carefully apply any and all [said and non-said] dialogue tags.

Thank you so much!<3 (:

That's great.

:shock:

OH WOW!
This is awesome. I'm going to use this in the near future.