writinglies

“Said is Dead”

People are going to disagree on this one with me. I just know it.
Honestly though? I’m okay with that. This is a personal preference and, for the record, that is a part of my point.
Whoever said that Said is Dead? You know, the whole scenario where you use it as a part of your dialogue tag . . . example below.
“How dare you?” James said with disdain coloring his voice.
One of the main arguments against this is that it gets old after awhile. Which, I agree. If you are constantly and forever using “he said” “she said”, then yes. But variety is the spice of live and nixing said completely makes for a difficult read.
Ever been in the middle of a book and there is so much back and forth dialogue with absolutely no tags, or if there are tags, they are extremely minimal and void of information? If you are anything like me, you feel a bit like someone with a game of ping pong going on inside their head. Who on earth is talking? What’s going on while they are talking? How are they saying it? What emotion is behind the words? What does their body language look like?
Honestly, not using tags really draws me out of a story since it creates a total lack of emotion behind the words the characters are saying.
You can totally spice them up too! Add some depth to that ‘said’! Add some emotion! Add some pizzazz!
In conclusion. . . I am far from thinking that said is dead. Used with creativity, it can be one of the most useful implements on a writer’s tool-belt.
What do you think about the use of ‘said’?
By God’s grace,
Victoria