Enough Said

Happy Monday my lovely writers!

As promised, today I will be covering the word "said".

And I’d like to add in another word that can be easy to overuse as well.

So we have "said": a very basic word which basically every person in America knows. It is also a very useful word. It can be used in books as part of a dialogue tag—a subject covered in my last post. But there is one problem with this very common and useful word.

It’s so common and so useful, that it’s overused.

Think about it. You want to write a piece of dialogue. For example, one of the characters in your book is looking at furniture and they say to the other character, “That’s a nice one.” What is your very first instinct as to what word to use for the dialogue tag?

Even though I try not to use the word "said" too much in my writing, it is usually the very first thing that comes to my mind, even for just a split second, when I’m writing what a character is saying.

It’s gotten drilled into my head over the years.

That is one of the hardest habits to break as a new writer.

When I was younger, and would write short stories, I used "said" all the time. That was what I’d always heard authors use in the books I read, which of course, were books for young kids. They were simple books. And the word "said" is simple. It’s easy for kids to understand.

Chances are, if you started writing at a young age, or even an older age, you had to break out of the habit of overusing said.

But why shouldn't we use "said" and when should we use it?

The thing is, "said" isn’t a bad word to use. In fact, more often than not, "said" is the perfect word to use. Using "said" as your main word for dialogue tags isn't wrong and it's what most authors do—me included.

It's one of those words that readers don't really focus on. You could call it invisible.

So honestly, it's not the worst thing to use.

But sometimes it gets so generalized and overused that the writing tends to lose its realism.

If you keep using "said" over and over again, it bogs down your scenes.

Read this:

“Hi,” Jordan said, the toe of her tennis shoe scuffing the ground.

“Hey,” Nick said. “What do you need?”

It may be a really short exchange. But can you see how "said" is overused? Even just using it twice in a row makes the words fall flat. They sound rehearsed almost, even though the words the characters say aren’t necessarily terrible.

When writing a book, one of the most important parts is connecting your readers to your main character. If they don’t connect with your main character, then why should they read all about their journey?

Even something as simple as using the word "said" too much can make your character lack the depth or the emotions they need.

And when you start writing, you’ll find that you want to communicate more meaning in your words than just a simple “He said".

Sometimes, characters aren't just "saying" things.

Sometimes they're shouting them, or mumbling them, or declaring them.

But how would your reader know that if you just used "said"?

As you go on in this blog post, remember that that what I'm talking about is using "said" so much that your characters lose the emotion in their words. What I'm not talking about is you going through your writing and replacing all of your "saids" with any other word possible because of "said" being "overused".

In my opinion, if a character is simply saying something, "said" is the best word to use.

It's when a character is not simply saying something that you need to switch out the word.

When and what do you use to replace "said"?

I have one word for you.

Synonyms.

This is by far the most useful and important word in my vocabulary.

I’m sure you’ve learned about synonyms already. But if you need a little refresher, here you go.

Synonyms are words with the same meaning as others. For example, "clear" and "transparent" are synonyms. Both of them mean see-through. "Ugly" and "hideous" are synonyms. They both can mean unattractive, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, etc.

If you’re struggling with overusing the word "said"—and I don't mean just replacing all your "saids" because you think there are too many—try to think of some synonyms for it or just words that mean "said" with a certain emotion that matches the way your character is speaking.

I’ll give you a list of some.

1. Stated

2. Bellowed

3. Mumbled

4. Muttered

5. Grumbled

6. Growled

7. Squeaked

8. Bit out

9. Replied

10. Announced

11. Exclaimed

12. Shouted

13. Reassured

14. Cautioned

15. Cried

These are just a few.

They are all words you can use in place of "said", but they all mean "said" in a specific way. There are places where these words go and places where they don't.

For example, you wouldn’t want to use the word "bellowed" if someone was whispering. And you wouldn’t want to use "mumbled" if someone was shouting.

All of these words add feeling to the scene.

If you were to just use "said" and the person was mumbling, you’d have to say “said softly” or “said quietly”. When you replace "said" with a word that directly means exactly how that person is talking, it gives the reader the idea of, both the emotions of the scene, and the emotions of the person speaking.

Let’s see which word from the above list would go best as a dialogue tag for this:

“You are not making this easy for me!”

What can we gather from that sentence? How about the emotions of the person speaking? Are they happy? Are they angry? Are their emotions running high?

Well, it’s an exclamatory sentence, so we know the person’s emotions are running high one way or another.

What about the content? Is it a happy statement? A frustrated one? I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t seem to be a very joyful one. The person sounds annoyed, frankly, angry, too.

How could you imagine this person saying the words? Would they be mumbling? Would they be talking so softly you had to strain to hear them? Would they be yelling at the top of their lungs?

There are several different words you could choose to use for the dialogue tag of that sentence. It all depends on the feeling you want for the sentence.

If I’d put a period at the end of the sentence and not an exclamation mark, I’d want it to be “growled” or “bit out”. I can just imagine the person lowly forcing out the words between gritted teeth.

But since there is an exclamation point, I think I’d go with "shouted", since the person is clearly angry and talking loudly. Or maybe "exclaimed".

What about you?

What word did you think went best there?

See how when we figure out another word to use in place of said, the sentence gets more meaning? How it’s not as flat?

This is how helpful it is to just switch out another word for "said".

See? I'm not just replacing random "saids" because there are too many. I'm adding in a better word that would add more emotion to the character's words because "said" just doesn't fit.

Don't feel bad about using "said".

Just remember that there is a time when other words need to be used.

There's also another word that we use way too much.

And that is "ask".

"Ask" is the second most overused word.

At least as far as writing dialogue tags goes.

It has the same problem "said" does.

Sometimes writers try to fix this by writing something like this:

"Help me with this?" she asked forcefully.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this. But it might be easier if we switch out "asked forcefully" to a word that means this.

This is the same thing we want to do with the word "said".

So let’s start out by finding some words that could go in place of "ask" in different situations.

1. Demanded

2. Requested

3. Inquired

4. Begged

5. Challenged

6. Quizzed

7. Pleaded

8. Suggested

9. Summoned

10. Appealed

11. Urged

12. Interrogated

13. Pried

14. Called

15. Probed

All of these are all words you could use in place of "ask".

But they are also to be used for a specific type of question.

Just like with the synonyms for "said", you can’t put "demanded" in when someone's softly asking a question. It just doesn’t work.

Out of the list above, figure out which one fits this sentence as the best dialogue tag:

“Please?”

It’s a simple word.

Very simple.

In fact, it’s so simple that it could be said in a million different ways.

There’s not really much content either.

Just a single word.

Read it in your head and remember the very first way you read it.

How did it sound?

Soft? Rough? Inquisitive? Demanding?

To me, the question sounded very quiet. Not really a demand, but more of a request. I’d say either “requested” or “inquired” would fit best. Maybe even “pleaded”, depending on how the word was said.

Or maybe, to you, it just sounded like it needed "ask".

That's okay too.

What did you think?

These can also be overused.

Be careful.

Like I've said over and over again, you don't want to just go around and replace all your "saids" and "asks".

You can also overuse synonyms for those words too.

You don't want your book to sound like a Thesaurus.

But you also don't want your book to sound flat or scripted with continuous "he saids" or "she saids" bogging down the writing.

Overall, to avoid using the words "said" and "ask" in a way that leaves characters' words feeling dull, try thinking of the emotion behind the words. Think of how the character’s saying it and find a word for that.

Don’t be shy about using Google either.

If you can’t think of a word that means what you want it to mean, Google it. I do it all the time. Believe me.

And if you want synonyms for any word (asked, demanded, stated, etc.) you can go to thesaurus.com. It is by far, the best and most useful website for a writer that I’ve found.

If you have any questions or a topic you’d like me to give my take on, just message me in the contact bar below.

Happy writing!

-Jocelyn