BOIL THE BUNNY
What empirical proof do you have for this one? I mean, I'm totally with you on sticking to "said" in adult novels, and no one can question that kids love Rowling's books (as do I, and I'm no kid). But what makes you say they love the quirky dialogue tags and adverbs specifically? What makes you think kids get a better understanding of a story because of these particulars as opposed to creating the mood and/or emotion with narrative and/or dialogue so you only need to use "said" in the end? True, using adverbs and saidisms (or whatever they're called) makes it easier, but does that mean that's what kids prefer? I read as many adult novels as I did "kid" novels when I was a brat--not that I was special because of this--and I don't recall favoring either one because of the usage, or lack of, the word "said".
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, James, honest. You're published and I'm not. But short of running an elementary class for a decade, or running a Gannet poll on the subject geared at a pool of 1,000 kids, I don't know how you can make that claim. Kids love Rowling, but it doesn't necessarily mean they appreciate the saidisms or adverbs.
Getting back to topic (and not directed at you, James):
Why teach kids something now that we'll have to un-teach them later? You want to improve kids' vocabulary? Great. Teach them different verbs not adverbs or tags. A clever verb is worth a dozen adverbs in my math. To me, teaching them to use more adverbs or more flowery tags is just plain lazy on the teacher's part. Or conforms to the teacher's (misguided) sense of what sounds "writerly". Bad enough we have to tell kids we were just kidding about Santa. Now we have to tell them to forget what we taught them about adverbs and funky dialogue tags being the way to go? And we wonder why they don't trust adults. Teach them right from the get-go. And start with the Easter Bunny. You'll save them thousands in therapy when they grow up and need counsel for the distrust they harbor for their elders.
Jamesaritchie said:Rowling is dead on in using creative dialogue tags, ly adverbs, etc., when writing for children.
Kids love them, appreciate them, and seem to have a much better understanding of the story when such words are used. Kids also use such words when telling a story, and their eyes seem to light up a bit brighter when someone like Rowling writes the way she does..
What empirical proof do you have for this one? I mean, I'm totally with you on sticking to "said" in adult novels, and no one can question that kids love Rowling's books (as do I, and I'm no kid). But what makes you say they love the quirky dialogue tags and adverbs specifically? What makes you think kids get a better understanding of a story because of these particulars as opposed to creating the mood and/or emotion with narrative and/or dialogue so you only need to use "said" in the end? True, using adverbs and saidisms (or whatever they're called) makes it easier, but does that mean that's what kids prefer? I read as many adult novels as I did "kid" novels when I was a brat--not that I was special because of this--and I don't recall favoring either one because of the usage, or lack of, the word "said".
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, James, honest. You're published and I'm not. But short of running an elementary class for a decade, or running a Gannet poll on the subject geared at a pool of 1,000 kids, I don't know how you can make that claim. Kids love Rowling, but it doesn't necessarily mean they appreciate the saidisms or adverbs.
Getting back to topic (and not directed at you, James):
Why teach kids something now that we'll have to un-teach them later? You want to improve kids' vocabulary? Great. Teach them different verbs not adverbs or tags. A clever verb is worth a dozen adverbs in my math. To me, teaching them to use more adverbs or more flowery tags is just plain lazy on the teacher's part. Or conforms to the teacher's (misguided) sense of what sounds "writerly". Bad enough we have to tell kids we were just kidding about Santa. Now we have to tell them to forget what we taught them about adverbs and funky dialogue tags being the way to go? And we wonder why they don't trust adults. Teach them right from the get-go. And start with the Easter Bunny. You'll save them thousands in therapy when they grow up and need counsel for the distrust they harbor for their elders.