The debate that splits the writing community! Some people are passionate about this question and have strong opinions on it. What do I think?

Is “said” dead? Should “said” be dead?

Never use “said” in your stories! Said is dead! Instead you should use words like shouted, whispered, questioned, demanded, urged, laughed, etc.

Only use “said” when you are writing! Said is not dead. You should only use said and show how the characters feel instead of telling us they shouted or laughed or whatever.

Yep, I’ve heard them both.

Both sides of the fence are adamant that their “side” of the question is right. They both have good reasons for using or not using “said.” But is this a question that should be yes or no? Or is this a question that should have middle ground?

I’m going to go with middle ground.

“Said” is great to use. If you only used words like shouted, exclaimed, groaned, and mumbled, it would get exhausting! However, if you never used words like tittered, pleaded, bellowed, and mimicked, you’d be missing out on a host of wonderful descriptive words.

Mix ’em up! Use both! Use said. Use joked. Sometimes one word is better and stronger than another. Sometimes using said and showing the feeling and emotions or the actions of someone is better. Other times keeping things moving with words like shouted, yelled, screamed, and cried, gets the point over faster and easier than trying to show all the emotion.

Tip: Write two short stories. For one of them only use Said as a dialog tag. Show all emotion in other ways. For the other story never use Said but convey the feelings and emotions with other dialog tags such as whispered, muttered, gasped, and more.

Have you ever heard that said is dead? What do you tend to use for dialog tags? Do you follow advice just because “someone” said to?