Words to use instead of "said"?

Here's a few.

Don't forget you can always liven up 'said' with with an adverb (he ejaculated insincerely).

My (least) favourite is 'bit out', which I came across in a Mills and Boon (don't ask!) 'novel'. As I recall, the character was talking to the postman at the time.

"What's that letter?" she bit out.

Only in Mills and Boon do people bite things out. Still, there seems to be a lot of scope for invention here.

"What's the time?" he smacked in.

"I feel like a fool," she threw up.

"It was all a ghastly mistake!" she crept out.

Come to think of it, 'smacked in' has some potential, if I ever write for Mills and Boon, so I'm copyrighting it here and now!

'Said' disappears after a while, the reader doesn't notice it. It's bad writing practice, so it's said, to replace 'said' with..er...ejaculated (at least too often). Just say 'said'(and also forget the adjectives)

'She moaned feelingly'

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Just do away with it altogether and allow the conversation to flow naturally. Liberate yourself from using it

I agree with Lavadis. Elmore Leonard, among others, does that. Some of his novels read like film scripts.

But then, of course, there's always uttered, interjected, whispered, shouted, cried, etc...

Or something like:

Bill sneered. "What makes you think that?"

Sally chuckled in her usual way. "You're not being serious, surely?"

Max leaned forward. "Well, let me just say this..."

There are all sorts of devices and words you can use.

To be perfectly honest, I usually stick with said and don't usually find it draws attention to itself too much... as Andrea said!

Hi Footsie, yes those old Mills and Boon books crease me up. Thank goodness they have moved into the modern age under HARLEQUIN and now they are a lot slicker. To my mind, and to answer to originator of this forum's question, is that ending (and starting) dialogue with a simple he said/she said cannot be beaten. For variation the very occasional adverb modifier can me thrown in. But if the dialogue is well written, what is being said should also tell you the manner in which it is being said, without the need for embellishment.

He said/she said for some reason never grates, no matter how many times it is used in a novel or story. It is quintessentially inobtrusive.

"I love your plums," said Celia, diffidently.

Ah yes, how I miss those days.

sd

said,says,told. they do the job. i love reading Alan Bennett scripts. & he often opted for the more basic words because those are the ones that suited his characters. i know you're talking novel, not play, but even then, an off-beat word can throw me, where as "said" etc i skim over. whispered, yelled, ordered, barked... i'm sure the alternatives all work fine but they'd suggest themselves naturally i imagine. & if they don't, then said's the way to go.

New Good subject and words.
Bit I have put said and says because
if someone spoken one put'sname,then
talk again so I said said or says.
But cannot express and do like all of you can.
Get my meaning! Thanks.
cavalcaderl julie x

"Hello," he lied.

I used to work for a publishing house that wrote about boring things and interviewed boring people. Not sure how the business survived really. But we tried to liven the magazine up by having interviewees "opine", "bellow", "declare", "state", "ponder", "muse" and all sorts. Mostly they looked silly and "said" would have done much better but they kept us amused.

Some writers use "said" so sparingly that I sometimes struggle to work out who is talking. Cormac McCarthy springs to mind. And half the dialogue's in Spanish which doesn't help.

Anyway, I digress. Interesting topic.

Angus felched desperately for the right words

It's currently taught to avoid adverbs as much as possible. As has already been stated, 'said' pretty much disappears. What MA students like myself are taught is to use 'said' rather than verbs such as'ejaculated' etc (which can sound ridiculous) but wherever possible to dispense with a tag. Good dialogue should be self-explanatory and readers able to differentiate between speakers. Mood should also be created by what's shown rather than by what's being told.

It's best to avoid words altogether and let readers use their imaginations, as in this classic piece of dialogue from Four Feet Thirty-three Inches:

See what I mean? Who'd have thought the Pope would bite that out!

The only other thing I'd say is pretty self-evident. Read, read, read - and as widely as possible. See how other writers do it. It's the best education in 'how to write' that you're ever likely to get.

Don't just forget the adjectives, put them all to the sword.