crystalwizard
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- Aug 12, 2008
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What are some suggestions of words that I can use in place of words like said, answered, replied or asked? I tend to use those four a lot and I need some different ideas.
Try using action tags instead. Like this:
Instead of
"So, Joan, how are you today?" he asked
do this
"So, Joan, how are you today?" Roger placed a hand on Joan's desk and leaned in close.
>there was a recent thread on this very topic.
>For the most part, you DON'T want to be creative with tags. DO
>use said, replied, and asked; or no tag at all if it's clear who's
>speaking.
Oft repeated, exceptionally bad advice that's being parroted all over the internet. Advice first generated by a writer who isn't much of a reader. Part of the current Fad Editing set of bad advice.
Yes, you DO want to get creative with your tags. Yes, you DO want to use things other than said, replied and asked. Yes, you DO want to use exclamation points.
This
"The dog just ran off with my pants," the man said
vrs.
"The dog just ran off with my pants!" the man screamed
They paint very different pictures in the mind of the reader. The second one instantly gives a clear image of a man with some sort of emotional response. In the first you can't tell if he cares or not.
You're not writing for WRITERS, you're writing for READERS. The picture you're painting is important if you want them to see the same image that you see.
I am constantly having to go through submissions and delete multiple lines of text when I do line edits for the magazine or our books, because the writer refuses to use something other that said and won't use exclamation points. Which forces them to get wordy and descriptive when a single sentence like the above works perfectly well.