Comments on: Don’t Overuse Exotic Substitutes for “Said”

By: PaintedSaint

PaintedSaint — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:37:26 +0000

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used ejaculated many times in his books, in a time much more simpler…

“Come, Watson!” Sherlock ejaculated.

I can’t remember which book in the series this one came from, but I nearly died laughing. Yay for homoeroticism…

By: jd

jd — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:10:03 +0000

Actually, JK Rowling used “ejaculated” at least once. It was quite amusing.

By: Swapnil Siddharth

Swapnil Siddharth — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:54:25 +0000

These are really important, because ’said’ is becoming too common to use.

By: The ReTARDISed Whovian

The ReTARDISed Whovian — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:00:31 +0000

“I avoid them like the plague. Looking over some of my recent writing, I only see the following:

asked
admitted
snapped
exclaimed
yelled
whispered
cut in”

I use all those, plus these:

chimed in
interrupted
cried
blurted out (insert name here)
murmured
mumbled
hissed (only when there is an S involved. Haha.)
snapped
screeched
demanded

By: Ghost

Ghost — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:08:48 +0000

i usually just cut the tags out after I establish the flow of the conversation. Or sometimes I’ll insert sentences of what the characters are doing while they are talking.
“I don’t know…” Sarah absently twirled her gum around her finger, “I guess I never really thought about it much.”

By: Lighting Man

Lighting Man — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:34:57 +0000

Until I broke my older brother’s ankle during a horrible falling-on-someone type game, it was always his dream to become a pilot for the military, and during one of his many conversations with my dead grandpa, who wasn’t dead at the time, My Father’s Father McDeadmanic suggested that he read memoirs by Air Force veterans, which he took to heart. He probably read two dozen within the first year, but there was one that he really, really loved, and for the life of me, I can’t remember the name or title, but he forced me to read it at one point and I swear to goodness, these people spent more time barking then most dogs. It wasn’t just during wartime, either, at one point, the Best Man at the guy’s wedding barked, and this was before he joined the Air Force.

I always wondered if it was some sort of sly political commentary on the business of war, as in “If you shoot individuals of a slightly different faction for money, you’ll get fleas and forget how to talk like a people.” but then I remember that it was a soldier that wrote it, and I wonder if there was some small print in the back of the book that said “Dictated through barking but not read by Fluffy Talbot.”

By: Banana Slug

Banana Slug — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:42:44 +0000

Ooh, I hate this! I saw a story once where LITERALLY every word was barked, hissed, or purred. ALL of them. Really.

I avoid them like the plague. Looking over some of my recent writing, I only see the following:

asked
admitted
snapped
exclaimed
yelled
whispered
cut in

Hissing wouldn’t be so bad, except most “hissed” sentences contain no S’s. Lemme know when you learn how to hiss a B.

By: Luna Jamnia

Luna Jamnia — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:37:37 +0000

Thanks.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:26:51 +0000

If you’re not fond of repeating “said,” oftentimes you can just cut out the tag entirely– particularly if it’s clear who’s saying what without the tag.

For example…

“I’ve had quite enough of your British shenanigans. Britainigans,” said Character 1.

“You’re barking mad,” said Character 2.

“Don’t talk to me about madness. You drink tea!”

Assuming that the readers already know that Character 1 is a slightly loony American and that Character 2 is British, you could probably just cut out the tags entirely.

By: Luna Jamnia

Luna Jamnia — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:23:50 +0000

I guess this is definitely an issue for me as well, just because I hate putting ’said’ so many dang times.

Hiss? I’ve used that-though not often-and ‘roar’ too … of course when I write ‘he roared’ or whatever, I usually think of Vin Diesel’s voice in Chronicles of Riddick. I’m pretty sure he did ‘roar’ a few times.

By: HUsher

HUsher — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:54:17 +0000

I saw a ‘he ejaculated’ once. I was in a very childish mood, and for a moment I lay there and giggled before struggling to return to the book. I mean, it’s a fairer usage, because the book in question was a Jane Austen, and as I’m sure you know, it had quite a different meaning then, but still…

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:04:37 +0000

Glad to help.

By: brukaoru

brukaoru — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:45:14 +0000

Oh wow, I just realized that this is a definite issue with my writing. Great article! Thank you so much!

By: trekfan

trekfan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:24:37 +0000

I can admit, this a problem for me. Luckily, I can correct it over the course of a few hours so no biggie, but man I really did abuse “smiled, smirked, grinned, ect”.

I am a use of exotic substitutions for “said.”

They say admittance is the first step.

By: Marissa

Marissa — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:31:40 +0000

Really? I can totally visualize hissing a word. Not as often as they do it, but… still.