Ever since I started to take writing seriously and have explored the craft, I've been troubled by the "rule" that the best speech tag is simply
said. Supposedly, the word
said just disappears in the reader's mind and doesn't distract from what's being communicated. I understand this in theory, but I can't help but want to use things like
screeched, whined, whispered and the like when my characters are talking. An entire page with "saids" just looks horribly and seems boring. Like watching a back and forth tennis match.
Even so, I do see the reasons that using action words as speech tags (
smiled, sneered, laughed) doesn't work. You can't
smile something.
And I do agree with Pam and the others that the best way to do it is to show what the speaker is feeling in the words they've chosen and in description of phycical actions rather than using adjectives. Although, this is a challenge!
Lynn
