Weird Wednesday Aug 16th: But, that’s what I sai—
I came across a Twitter post the other day, yesterday to be precise, and it made me think. The word ‘said’ can be overused in writing, so I try to use other ways to indicate who is speaking. Placing an action before or after dialogue is an easy way to avoid a repetitive dialogue tag.
Martin shook his head. “That doesn’t seem right.”
There are a lot of good words on that list, but I’ll have to disagree that all of them are a direct substitute for the word “said.” Oh, you want examples? Oh, I have examples.
We walked along the moonlit forest path, hand in hand. “This is a lovely first date,” I yelled. We have not had another.“A moving tribute to the deceased,” the priest laughed. The congregation was appalled.She put down the fork and pushed back in her chair. “I’m full,” she asked. In a flawless speaking voice, he stammered, “And that my friends, is a rap.”“It’s a typical, He cried/She chuckled, situation.”“I don’t know what that means,” I chattered.
“I’m just giving you examples,” he wailed.
“Whoa, no need for that,” I whispered.
He quoted, “Please speak up.”
You get the drift … moving on.
It was only a matter of time before I repeated myself. Much of the earlier Miniscules’ humor was based on the fact that their size made the joke impossible to see and left it up the the reader’s imagination. I drew this, then realized I had done it before, but only posted it on my first website as a bonus cartoon.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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