the Tom Swift series, published for boy readers 100 yrs ago, gave you terms such as “Fire! “Tom cried alarmingly” That was then. Today readers are much more sophisticated. Avoid what I see over and over e.g. “no,” I said flatly. I said sincerely, I replied, I called, I blurted, he muttered, she hissed (really?), snapped. You must convey all with the words you use, your writing, and said is invisible. all the best writers tell us to use said for the attribution Read Self-Editing For Fiction Writers By Renni Browne and Dave King or please don’t speak to me. thanks. If you can’t “show” how that character feels thru intimate pov, interior monologue, you cheat the reader with short cut adverbs after an attribution. And please, always put “said” after the speaker.. not before. I call those “Dick and Janes’s” e.g. Hello Jane, said Dick, Hello Dick said Jane. get it?
Beware of writing Swifties… a fate worse than…….
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