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Pulitzer
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Hi! This might be a German problem and maybe we're just all galactically stupid, but when it comes to dialogues I clearly remember that I lack words ( in my own language that is, I better not talk about the gray hairs this has caused me in English ) Getting to the point... Would anybody, apart fom me be interested in a list of words that can be used to describe speech? I start with it and maybe other people can come up with other brilliant ideas Normal way of saying something - to say - to add - to mutter - to mumble - to retort - to utter Question: - to ask - to inquire - to want to know Loud way of saying something: - to shout - to yell That is as much as I can think of, now. Any takers?
It's never too dark to be cool.
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Freelance Reporter
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Freelance Reporter
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Hey, here are some more that I can think of: to reply to mean to answer to remark to observe to comment to state to call to respond to return I hope this helps.
"It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (Albus Dumbledore, CoS)
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Pulitzer
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Thanks Pennyfeather. But I think we have to remove to mean. That's a Germanism. As far as i know you can't use it in this context.
to scream to whisper
It's never too dark to be cool.
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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My 10th grade (age 15) English teacher once gave us all a list of synonyms/alternatives for the word "said." I'll see if I can dig it up.
Eureka! Pay dirt!
Here goes (all this is in past tense, since that's what stories are usually written in):
acknowledged added admitted advised affirmed agreed announced answered argued asserted assured avowed bellowed blurted bragged cautioned challenged claimed conceded concluded confessed continued corrected cried decided declared demanded denied disclosed divulged emphasized estimated explained gasped growled grunted hinted insisted interjected interrupted joked lied maintained mentioned mumbled murmured offered ordered panted plead pointed out prayed proclaimed promised proposed protested quipped ranted related reminded repeated replied reported revealed shouted sighed speculated stated stipulated theorized threatened uttered volunteered warned whimpered whispered wondered yelled
"You take turns, advise and protect one another, even heal or be healed when the going gets too tough. I know! That's not a game--that's friendship!" ~Shelly Mezzanoble, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game Darcy\'s Place
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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whispered grumbled gasped laughed chuckled giggled questioned ranted exclaimed bellowed A good way to find an alternative to "say" or "ask" (or "shout") is to go to Thesaurus.com and type in "say" or "ask" or "shout" - you'll get lots and lots of choices. Just for "say" you get: add, affirm, allege, announce, answer, assert, break silence*, claim, communicate, conjecture, convey, declare, deliver, disclose, divulge, do, estimate, express, flap*, gab*, give voice*, guess, imagine, imply, jaw, judge, lip*, maintain, make known, mention, opine, orate, perform, pronounce, put forth, rap*, read, recite, rehearse, relate, remark, render, repeat, reply, report, respond, reveal, rumor, speak, spiel*, state, suggest, tell, utter, verbalize, voice, yak*The ones in italics either don't work for active speech, or are awkward to phrase - ie, "Maybe it's Lex Luthor," Clark conjectured. "Hey, what if it's that Asabi guy?" Jimmy put forth. "No, wait - here it is in this fax - it's Mindy Church," Lois read. These all sound kind of awkward or contrived (to me, anyway). The rest, though, all work okay, depending on what your characters are saying. And that's just the first entry, for "say." Under that entry, there's "add" with it's synonyms, a few of which would work quite well, then "answer" and "articulate" (and so on), with quite a few more synonyms that would work. I use Thesaurus.com a lot, when I'm trying to avoid too much repetition - so much so that it's listed as one of my main references in the author's notes at the end of my current story. 'Toc
TicAndToc :o)
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"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three." -Elayne Boosler
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Kerth
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Kerth
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The problem with using lots of different words to avoid the word "said" is that eventually it starts sounding worst than using the word. I prefer to use "said" and "asked", unless there's a good reason not to, but use them sparingly. For example, here's a conversation between a couple of characters in a Doctor Who story I wrote recently. For various reasons this particular story was in the present tense so "says" rather than "said" and "asks" rather than "asked", but I think it makes the point reasonably well: "So what does your mum want for Christmas?" asks Mickey.
"Mmmmm?" (I don't identify the character talking here - Rose - because earlier text has established that Mickey and Rose are the only people in the conversation)
"Your mum? Christmas?" (it's obvious from context that this is Mickey talking, so I don't need to say so)
"Christ knows," says Rose. "You've left it a bit late, haven't you? Not a box of Black Magic and a Barry Manilow CD these days. Too down-market for her." (Here I use 'says Rose' simply as a place marker - every now and again I put one in so that the reader doesn't lose track)
"So what, then?"
"I don't know... Belgian chocolates, maybe? Marks and Sparks used to do a good selection in our world, I haven't checked here. A potted plant? Something for the dog?" Outside there's the lights of an airship in the sky, probably inbound to London City moorings. (mentioning what Rose sees - she's the viewpoint character - is another way of reminding the reader that she's the person talking. It also reminds the reader that this is set in an alternative world that has lots of airships)
"What are you getting her?" asks Mickey. (another place marker)
"Haven't decided yet. It'll be something girly, so don't worry. Perfume or a nightie or something."
"Jackie in a nightie. Now that's a scary thought... What are you staring at?"
"Girl over there," says Rose, nodding towards the corner where they're sitting. "The tall slender brunette, the one that looks like she should be a model." (another place marker combined with description of the character's actions)
"What about her?" says Mickey, ogling the girls. (I name Mickey again, but mainly because I want to describe his behaviour, and it's easiest to do so by adding something to the 'says Mickey' marker)
"Recognise her?"
"Nope. Should I?"
"I'm pretty sure I met her, back in the old world."
"So?" says Mickey. "Lots of duplicates around. I had a double for a while."
"I'm pretty sure I met her when I was with the Doctor." So in 16 lines of dialogue I've used "asks" twice and "says" six times, at least a couple more times than it was really needed. If they're used that sparingly they aren't obtrusive.
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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OT - Marcus, where do you post your Doctor Who fic? I didn't know you wrote in that fandom - I do too, and I don't remember seeing that story posted anywhere I frequent. The main Who archive, if you don't know it, is A Teaspoon and an Open Mind , and I post just about all my DW fic there, as well as on some LiveJournal communities and my own DW site. (And Jackie in a nightie - definitely scary We know Nine thought so the first time he saw her ) Anyway... back on topic. I agree: using too many synonyms for say/said can detract from the story by dragging the reader's attention to your speech tags rtaher than the story itself. Using 'beats' - actions, as Marcus did in his example - is a good way to avoid speech tags altogether. And in any case, a couple of the words on that list aren't speech tags at all, because they're not synonyms for active speaking - such as 'sighed', 'read' and 'laughed'. You may do these things together with speaking, but they don't actually imply speaking. 'Blurted', also, is incorrect on its own; it needs to be 'blurted out'. Wendy
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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Kerth
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Kerth
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Originally posted by Wendymr: OT - Marcus, where do you post your Doctor Who fic? I didn't know you wrote in that fandom - I do too, and I don't remember seeing that story posted anywhere I frequent.
The main Who archive, if you don't know it, is A Teaspoon and an Open Mind , and I post just about all my DW fic there, as well as on some LiveJournal communities and my own DW site.
(And Jackie in a nightie - definitely scary We know Nine thought so the first time he saw her )
I've written two Dr. Who stories, they're both Buffyverse crossovers, posted to several sites including A Teaspoon and an Open Mind . The second one is the one I've quoted, but you really need to read the first for it to make sense. Also, they're set in a slightly AU Buffyverse future history I first wrote about some time ago, the easy way to get into them is to follow this link which takes you to an introduction and explains what it's all about. Originally posted by Wendymr: Anyway... back on topic. I agree: using too many synonyms for say/said can detract from the story by dragging the reader's attention to your speech tags rtaher than the story itself. Using 'beats' - actions, as Marcus did in his example - is a good way to avoid speech tags altogether. I knew that there was a technical term for doing this, but I couldn't remember it. There's a lovely essay on said-avoidance by the SF author James Blish, writing as William Atheling, giving some horrendous examples he'd found in stories. It isn't on line, it's in one of several books of criticism he wrote, I think The Issue At Hand or More Issues At Hand; they're both now pretty rare, but larger libraries may have them. The examples he gives include "He tinned," a verb that is normally only applied to soldering but was apparently used to describe the speech of a robot...
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Top Banana
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Oh, I have no objection to using the words "said," "asked," or "yelled." I just think it's nice to have a little variety now and then.
I mix up my dialogue like you do, Marcus (also including actions or just not having tags at all in between), only instead of using "says" (or said) six times and "asks" (asked) twice when I'd put them, I might use "asked" once, "said" twice, plus a "queried," a couple of "reiterateds," and maybe even an "intoned." Or whatever speech verb I think fits the best--because sometimes, "said" just DOESN'T FIT into the context of the sentence--or the conversation. And sometimes, the simple "said," "asked," or "yelled" is the ONLY word that will fit.
In other words:
It's important not to be afraid to use "said," yes.
But it's also important not to bore the readers to death (or to let your story get stilted from lack of variety in the prose) with the same exact speech verbs whenever a speech verb is called for.
"You take turns, advise and protect one another, even heal or be healed when the going gets too tough. I know! That's not a game--that's friendship!" ~Shelly Mezzanoble, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game Darcy\'s Place
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Aha! Found you on the Teaspoon now, Marcus. I know why I never noticed your fic before - I generally avoid crossovers Usually it's because I'm not a fan of the crossed series, and that's the case here. I never watched Buffy, nor had any interest in watching it. But I did read your two fics, and left you a review Wendy
Just a fly-by! *waves*
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Kerth
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Kerth
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How about... barked hissed stammered stuttered wailed whined
The only known quantity that moves faster than light is the office grapevine. (from Nan's fabulous Home series)
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Kerth
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Kerth
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Originally posted by DSDragon: It's important not to be afraid to use "said," yes.
But it's also important not to bore the readers to death (or to let your story get stilted from lack of variety in the prose) with the same exact speech verbs whenever a speech verb is called for. I have nothing against using another word than "said" occasionally, or if the situation demands it ("he whispered" etc.), I just don't see much point in going out of my way to do so if there's no need, and I really feel that doing so too often can be annoying, to the point where I've occasionally stopped reading stories that do it to excess.
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Kerth
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Kerth
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By an odd coincidence I've just started converting a 1904 book called D'Ordel's Pantechnicon into an e-text. I say an odd coincidence because the Pantechnicon is a satire on magazine publishing of the period, and it turns out that one of the things in it is a "printer's dictionary of serial adventure phrases," set out as a sort of flow chart of alternative words. Needless to say this includes a list of 66 alternatives to "said" and "asked..."
I've not reached that point in the OCR yet, but as soon as I have it on line I'll post a link. Maybe I should add that the sample story written using this method is DREADFUL!
Marcus L. Rowland Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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