By BookBaby author Andre Calilhanna
While adverbs and passive voice seem to be the primary targets of literary disdain and unchained vitriol, a close third might be the imaginative use of dialogue tags. As a creative writer, especially as a storyteller, you may have a desire to spread your literary wings and find expressive words that convey something deeper and immerse your reader, like Harry Potter falling into a memory in the Pensieve.
So why use “said” when your character chortled? Or maybe she guffawed. Or did he exclaim!
As a general rule, “said” is usually the best solution when attributing a statement to a character. But, there are times in your book or short story — or journalistic/nonfiction report — where a more specific qualifier would do a lot to paint a complete picture. For those times, the infographic below might help you land on that perfect word.
Produced by the folks at ProofreadingServices.com, this infographic is your thesaurus-at-a-glance for dialogue tags and other means of expressing the tone of a statement. For my own writing, I find that dialogue tags are often unnecessary once the characters in a conversation are established or a source is being repeatedly quoted. But, even so, maybe there really is a time when your protagonist natters, your villain vociferates, and a secondary character asseverates.
Or is there?
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Use Expressive Words To Build Your Story World
This BookBaby blog article Dialogue Tags: When “Said” Doesn’t Say Enough [Infographic] appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .