Shoutout to the person who pointed out my "said" problem

I had a beta reader tell me every single dialogue tag in my first chapter was something other than "said" and I thought they were being picky, but after changing them all it reads way smoother now. Anybody else fight with overusing fancy tags like "exclaimed" or "retorted"?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan2621mo ago

...and that's what happened to my friend Jenna. She had this whole fantasy scene where her wizard kept "bellowing" and "thundering" every line of dialog, and it was exhausting to read. After I convinced her to swap most of them to just "said", suddenly the dramatic moments actually landed better because they stood out more. She still uses an occasional "whispered" or "shouted" for effect, but now it's like spice instead of the whole meal. Honestly, "said" is invisible to readers in the best way possible, you just glide right through it.

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stellablack1mo agoProlific Poster

Noticed the same thing happens in real conversations too. People who always talk in hyperbole make everything sound the same, like every little thing is the biggest deal ever. When they finally say something genuinely important, it just blends in with all the noise and nobody takes it seriously.