I Was Wrong · 3:15pm Oct 7th, 2019
So, for anyone that read my blog a while back pertaining to not saying things, I have to admit, I was wrong. I recently was reviewing a story and there was just a large amount of 'X said' and its derivatives, but for the most part, had solid writing. I was about to mark it down for this when I decided to thumb through a few books I have and see if this was common practice. To my surprise, of the 6 books I looked through; It, The Thran, The Brothers War, The Loners, and The Penultimate Peril, they ALL have everyone say things and their derivatives as the primary way of conveying dialogue outside of just giving us the quote without further words. So, this has proven to me that my 'use X said as little as possible' rule is a personal gripe of mine and indicative of my own personal style of writing.
Well, if I ever become a published author, all of you here will have a cheat sheet for finding out who I really am.
Free, finally FREE! I will place said in each and every chapter now! The time of said has come!!!
That being said, it is a very nice stylistic choice. Removing said tags where possible and just leaving dialogue and actions improves the pacing of scenes by making them flow together more naturally. Of course, all in moderation.
I thought that I didn't have this habit, but then I got curious after reading this and looked it up in my writing. Turns out I do it a lot. I don't know what to feel about this
5133837
I'm going to honest, your story was the reason for this post. But I wouldn't be too worried about it. As I said, this is common practice for authors, and even if you use 'X said' a great deal more than I prefer, I was a lot more sensitive to this after reading the other story I have for the week. Sorry I'm late on posting them, should be up within 12 hours.
5133861
Really? Well, I certainly look forward to what you have to say! Also, you thought the righting was solid? That certainly makes me happy to know I did well in that department
5133861
At first, I thought my story was what made you write this blog post haha. I'm guessing I was the "other story you have to read for the week."
5143888
I review stories for a review group, so no, it wasn't you. When I edit for people, I tend to ignore this as I want to only fix legitimate issues with grammar and structure. I don't touch style as it is a personal thing that all authors have.
5143897
Oh. Either way, reducing the use of "X said" has definitely improved my writing by making me focus more on action with my dialogue. So thanks for that