He said/She said

[ThE_DeAd]

So anyone who's roleplayed with me before knows how much I love to use dialogue in order to create mood and flesh out my characters. I've come to accept that this is part of my style and I embrace it. However, I catch myself overusing "He said" and other variations of this boring phrase. After a while, it starts to get a bit stale.

Any suggestions on some things I can do to spice up my dialogue narration?

 

[Fluffy]

Look up some synonyms. :] Thesaurus.com is a good resource. I go there everyday to learn random words, but also to look up ways to, as you put it, spice up my dialogue.

I'd love to list some words for you, but I feel too lazy and tired. lol So here's a link to more words than you'll know what to do with. *keeps it for herself as well*

http://citl.hbg.psu.edu/cawp/QW/attachments/saysaid.pdf

 

[Tegan]

I'm shameless about writing down some of the profound/ridiculous shit I hear strangers say and plugging it into my writing. Also, if it's perfectly clear who is saying what, you don't need to address it at all, just move along with your narrative.

 

[Diana]

And here are 550 alternative words for said!

But like Tegan suggested, if it's clear who is speaking, it's totally unnecessary. But I do love "flavor words" when you want to set the tone of a specific sentence. He screamed, she whined, etc...

 

[Zorilla]

I personally enjoy it when the writer takes time to describe what each character is doing while speaking. We don't just speak and remain still and motionless, we talk with our hands, our faces, our bodies. We have inflections of the voice. I would find it a great reprieve to see that, then switch to a more 'fast pace' conversation here that description is slightly gone, and go back and forth. it would help me realize the characters are speaking faster, or perhaps slower and more deliberate.

Another thing i personally enjoy, which you may or may not be doing, is to develop a rhetoric and diction for each character. Is this character the type to pontificate while speaking, are they a simpletin, do they use more I statements than you statements, do they speak with improper grammar. All of these things cna 'spice up' the world of your writing. and Dialog.


Just some suggestions from me ^.^

 

[The Fox and The Spider]

She purred, he bellowed, Her voice weaken, He whispered almost inaudibly, Her voice shaken by her lack of resolve, His tone was that of conviction, Her worlds proved rigid in nature, Frigidly he retorted, she replied matter of fact like, His tone stern like that of a father scolding his child, Her words drenched with a sense of sincerity, His words spewing forth urgency. Ect ect ect

 

[Villamvihar]

There is nothing wrong with using said a little often in my opinion, but what other people said in this thread also goes. If it is obvious who is speaking, then it should be left out and some meaningful filler can also be used as a substitute for this particular word. Like Zorilla mentioned, body language can be a good way to fill the space or indicate emotions to the reader.

However, I would also avoid overusing these as they can get tiresome. Using "said" often is not necessarily a grave crime. It might be repetative to hear it five times in quick succession, but using synonyms and other expressions for every single sentence can also get annoying.

 

[Curiose]

I like what others have said. I too have fallen into the repetitions of s/he said. Perhaps try writing short passages and seeing what you can come up with? It could always come in handy later.

Also, I think this would be a great writing challenge to limit yourself to how many s/he saids in a written post, and be as creative as you can be in your writing.