“Said is dead. It is a tragic day for writers everywhere. This is Percy Fudgebottom live from Sisters Three Press. I’ll hand the mic to the sisters now.”
*Sisters Three takes the mic, wipes tears* We were so sad to hear the news….until we realized it was all lies! Said is not dead! *confetti canons* And hold onto your seats because this post only gets more unhinged from here, but we hope you enjoy our random ramble!
Inspired over a pinterest post and a game of Uno. Thank you for coming to our rambley information corner!
Said is dead.
Words to replace said.
Words to use instead of said.
Don’t use said, use these words instead.
Anyone else seen these post? Been drawn in by all the shiny new words and the phrase that ‘said is dead’? Yeah, those post all too prevalent and they *glances around and leans in* are untrue.
Yep, you heard us right. False advertising with those things because said is in fact not dead. Hi, Said! *waves at Said as he passes*
In fact, Said is invisible and that’s the problem with those posts.
What’s the problem?
Oh, let us explain. Said is invisible in a sentence. Readers read it sooooooooo much (you’re thinking that they get bored of it, untrue) that they no longer notice it. It’s simply a dialogue tag. A word that lets them know that someone is talking, that someone said something, and they can move on and keep reading.
Now, if you replace most of your Saids with some of these words:
Or these…
List of over 300 words to replace Said with! (We did no realize there that many…lol…)
Then you are creating dialogue tags the read has to see. What does that mean? We’re glad you asked, good for you!
It means that when a reader reads:
“I cannot claim to be as wise as him, but he has taught me much,” character said.
That flows smoothly, they continue on, not having to rethink it. You could add some action beats to that if you wanted to show the characters emotions, and that’s another topic to be discussed in a minute. Where as if you put:
“I cannot claim to be as wise as him, but he taught me much,” character stated.
We now have a very different vibe. He seems more distant and almost less real…because he’s the pit fall that happens when we take out said and replace it with other words.
We get lazy.
We use words to describe HOW the character said something instead of using action beats to SHOW how the character said it. Does that make sense?
Now, it’s not wrong to use other words at times. We often use shouted, laughed, sneered, mumbled, whispered, called, etc…they just need to work with the scene and the main word you should be using is said. If you use a word at all because often you can skip the dialogue tag when needed and just use action beats!
Yep, you can just SHOW how your character said something instead of saying HOW they said. The truth is, we’re supposed to show not tell. And saying Said is dead and filling it’s place with other words is just telling us…you’re telling us they stated, shouted, giggled, murmured, etc…instead of showing us that the character is uninterested, angry, cracked up, or nervous.
When you find yourself wanting to replace Said (or even attend his funeral when he is very much alive) remember that it is better to add an action beat than to replace Said. After all, what did the poor guy ever do to you?
Well, we hope you enjoyed that as much as we did! We had so much fun putting this post together…*starts counting, then shrugs* You know the numbers of months ago is irrelevant…it was a long time coming though. XD
What are you thoughts on Said? Do you think he’s been unjustly executed? Or would you say otherwise?
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