By:
C.S. Lakin
Our
focus this month is on words: specifically, adverbs, superfluous verbiage,
tics, and “weasel words.” Overuse of such words constitutes our Fatal Flaw #11,
a pox on many writers’ prose.
Before
I jump into my own topic on this flaw, a few words about said.
Said, when used with a
pronoun, creates what’s known as a dialog (or speaker) tag: it’s a phrase that
tells us who’s speaking. He said, she said, they said, he called, she
cried, he replied, and all the rest.
Beginning
writers, zealous to eliminate weasel words (and occasionally armed with bad
advice about “passive language”) sometimes slash this one mercilessly. But
that’s not always a good idea.
Said, while it’s
admittedly boring, is invisible. Readers don’t really notice it unless it’s
used so often that it becomes extreme. In almost every case, the
words we would use to replace it are worse: “Shut up!” he implored. “No!” she
protested. “Please stop!” they cajoled. (Tags that actually identify a special action—like
screaming, whining, or whispering—are fine where appropriate.)
But
you don’t just want to end every line of dialog with “ she said” either. And
while paragraphing and conversational interplay will sometimes let us know
who’s speaking without any extra direction from the author, writing dialog without
any tags at all can get confusing (especially if you have more than two people
in conversation).
The
best call is to use dialog tags—use said, in fact, and its equally
invisible counterpart asked—but use them sparingly, not after every line
of dialog. And for the rest of the space? There are action beats.
Introducing
the Action Beat
.
. .
To read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
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