[ ID: Pictures of several pages from a paperback book. They read:
SAID IS A MAGICAL WORD. Boring maybe, but magical nonetheless. It's magical because it disappears. It becomes invisible.
What I'm about to tell you may differ from what your teachers have told you. Your teachers may ask you to use lots of variants on said instead of said over and over. The reason is probably that they want you to vary your vocabulary and not use the same word repeatedly.
That's often fine advice, but not when it comes to said in stories. Asked is about as good as said if the line of dialogue is a question. Asked also disappears. And so does added, if it's used when it makes sense and not used too much. But you should almost never write, "Where did you put the aardvark?" she queried, or "Don't you hate aardvarks?" he questioned. Query and question call attention to themselves and away from your story. The reader sees the question mark and knows that the character is querying or questioning.
Avoid other noticeable words, like affirm, allege, articulate, assert, asseverate (a word I'd never heard of before started writing this), aver, avow, claim, comment, confabulate, contend, declare, express, hint, mention, observe, opine, pronounce, profess, remark, utter, voice. I don't mean that you shouldn't ever use these perfectly fine words. just mean don't use them as a substitute for said.
Try this: Pull out an old story. Above your substitutes for said, write said. Read your dialogue both ways. Which is better?
There are a few exceptions to this rule. It's okay, even good, to use a said alternative that indicates volume. You can write, "We have to get out of here," Tim whispered, or "We have to get out of here," Gillian shouted (or yelled or screamed or screeched). These verbs are okay because you're giving the reader new information when you use them. But don't make your characters whisper or holler just to avoid using said.
It's also okay to use a substitute for said if you're being funny. Here's an example:
"I despise and detest simple locutions," he asseverated.
"Aw, shut your trap, she growled.
And it's fine to use another word if you can get away with it, if your story simply reads better that way.
Fashions in writing change. If you look at an old classic, you'll see lots of uninvisible speech verbs. I just looked at Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, which was published in 1847, and I found a place where a main character recommenced rather than said! I also looked at my favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, published in 1817. I discovered that Austen uses cried for said so often that cried becomes invisible.
Take a peek into a few of the books you love, the ones written in the last fifty years. Do you see words like exclaimed or queried or interjected? I don't think you do.
Because these days said is beautiful.
