: Re: How do I say that a character said something without resorting to "said Character" every time? I have one big problem with my writing - when I'm doing dialogue, I find myself writing it and

@Harper186

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"Character said" really is one of the best ways to tag dialog.

When we write we are hyper-aware of our word choices and sentence structure. We don't like to repeat ourselves and we hate seeing all those "said"s stack up because they seem cumbersome and repetitive.

However, reading is an entirely different story. A well written story will immerse the reader in the experience of reading. Their brain will actually tune some repetitive things out, and the word "said" is one such thing.

Let's take a look at this:

"I don't care for these eggs," said Mable.

You see "said Mable" because you are thinking critically about words and structure, but the reader will rarely be consciously aware of the words "said Mable." Instead, they will only be conscious of the proceeding sentence; their brain will seamlessly absorb the fact that Mable was the person who said it.

It's also worth noting that when only two people are talking, you can often cut out dialog tags after the first quotation or two. People will understand that paragraph breaks indicate alternating speakers.

For example:

"I don't care for these eggs," said Mable.

"I thought you liked eggs," said Jake.

"I do like eggs, but these eggs are far too runny."

"You're so picky, but I can cook them a little longer if you'd like."

That's pretty easy to follow, right?

Finally, I strongly discourage adding unnecessary descriptions to what characters are doing in the dialog tags. Whenever you do it, the reader is forced to shift modes, and doing it too often can bring them out of immersion. This is includes using adverbs to describe how characters are speaking. Whenever possible, make feeling clear through word choice, not through line delivery. Over describing dialog is a very widespread beginner mistake. You may be surprised by how much more natural your writing becomes when you stop doing it.

Good luck with your writing!

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