A place for Tutorials, Tips and Tricks

sadademort:

shikiisapetname:

murdertramp:

I once had a week-long workshop with writer Jack Kreitzer. I was twelve, and I had just finished the very first draft of what is slowly becoming Our Eyes to the Stars. He told me I was a still pond that ran very deep, and I never forgot what I learned from him.

This sheet was one of the most valuable. Said is Dead.

For the next thirty days, the word “said” is your enemy.

REBLOGGING FOR THE FACT THAT THIS IS FOREVER USEFUL. 

Yes yes yes yes yes yes

This is both useful and…well, not. (Look how good I am with antonyms and shit.)

Seeing a billion “said”s can become a drag. I mean, really. He said, she said, they said, we said, said said said said said. It’s annoying to see that back and forth. And sometimes, you need a stronger word, a word with some emotional oomph to it. And that’s all well and good.

But using said is sometimes a great advantage. The eyes mostly ghost over dialogue tags, so “he said” “she said” is basically ignored and serves only as a reminder of who is talking so that this doesn’t turn into a fucking Ernest Hemingway HELLHOLE. Using fancy tags such as these draws attention to the tag and can sometimes hinder dialogue by diverting attention from the words said to who said what.