Dear fellow writers,
‘Said’ is beautiful. Please use it more. It isn’t anything to be feared of hated. It’s not boring or overused. It makes all the other dialogue tags more special when they’re used on occasion.
‘Said’ makes your writing less cluttered. It can be a simple way of reminding the reader who is talking without bombarding them with synonyms.
“Use it along with action to make it more interesting,” she said, picking up her pencil.
He smirked, and said, “Or with expressions and body language.”
“Or,” she said, “just as a quick reminder of who is talking.”
“And if you know who is talking, a dialogue isn’t always necessary.”
Of course you can use other dialogue tags, but please don’t exclude ‘said’. It’s heartbroken from being ignored.
‘Said’ is beautiful.
