I noticed yesterday in the novel I am reading that the author uses only one verb to describe a character speaking: “said”.
“blah blah blah,” he said.
“doo da doo,” I said.
I scanned several pages to see if it seemed deliberate; it did. No “replied” or “blurted” or “laughed” or even “asked.” Almost unfailingly consistently, he uses the same verb. There was an instance where he used a different verb, but the character was raising their voice.
Interesting.
I don’t think one is superior to the other. I have however learned over time that adverbs are often unnecessary. And this particular observation about this book has showed me that the eye is capable of passing over the same verb over and over without being distracted — as long as the dialogue is good, of course. I think I only noticed it as a writer, and because Claire said something about it a couple months ago, I think.
I noticed something similar about my stories. Inevitably I get fed up of seeing the same word repeated in every page, and I want to tear my hair out. Sometimes, the best way of dealing with the ‘said’ and ‘mumbled’ and ‘shouted’ game is just to not specify who said it and let the reader figure it out based on context. Slap on a period mark and the end of the quotations and let it go. 🙂
I think I learned that from Bukowski. Minimalism at its best.
Oh I totally do that, just let the dialogue go back and forth without stating who is speaking for as long as possible. But if you let it go for more than six or eight lines, the reader may lose who is talking and have to backtrack. That happens to me sometimes as a reader.
That’s true. Or I might just add some description of the scene to break up the dialogue. Yep. It’s so hard to tell a story and get caught up on the details of how to sound telling it.
What did Claire say about it?
I think she said basically the same thing, that you can get away with writing “said” exclusively and it won’t have a negative effect because you don’t even notice it as a reader (unless the writing is bad or something). I think we were instant messaging so my recall is sketchy.
I was in a writing class and a teacher said one of the cardinal rules of writing is JUST to say “said,” not any of those other “chuckled,” “mumbled,” etc. “Really?” I asked. “How are your readers supposed to know what the character is doing?” “Your writing should indicate that,” she said. “If not, then you’re not writing it well.” “Doesn’t it get boring/repetitive to read ‘said,’ ‘said’, ‘said’ over and over again?” I asked. “The word becomes invisible,” she said. “Trust me.”
And while I didn’t believe her at first shortly thereafter I came to understand. I know it’s a personal choice but I think it was one of the handful of good things I actually learned in grad school.
I think I learned it in one of my workshops before grad school.
Janet Burroway writes about this in Writing Fiction, the basic creative writing textbook that everyone should read. The “invisible” thing. That is where everyone is getting it from. It is also true.
Writing Fiction, by the way, is just a simpler-to-read and more “textboooky” version of John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction, which everyone should also read.
thanks for the recommendations.
“Doesn’t it get boring/repetitive to read ‘said,’ ‘said’, ‘said’ over and over again?” I asked.
Don’t you mean, “I said.”
HA HA HA
But seriously, it’s true. I am trying to only use a different verb when the person speaking is actually yelling or actually whispering because those are things the reader would need to understand. I think.
Something about Vince DeMiero comes to mind here… The effort to use different words, not to repeat, to keep interest, I dunno. I can hear his voice in my heads, once in a while.
This morning I am wondering, as usual, why I don’t write.
you do write! you write your livejournal 🙂
I went through years of not writing anything creative though, and when I least expected it, I had two stories in my head.