Different ways of saying "said"

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

While I do agree with some of Leonard's rules listed here, I do believe there should be more physical description to characters than simply the removal of a hat.


If I had taken this kind of approach for, say, my character Katana Maeshalanadae, she would have probably come across like the girl with the dragon tattoo, probably minus the tattoo-and probably a good twenty or thirty pounds lighter, enough to the point to need hospitalization. Not at all how I envisioned her or wanted *potential* readers to envision her, so I had to throw in some description of her in the stories she was involved in. She merely had a short fuse who believed in realistic portions for her meals; she was not an anorexic punk.

 

[Flugel Meister]

Robert Ludlum avoids "said" like the plague. Instead, all of his characters always "whisper" a response.

I hardly notice the word "said" when reading. But when writing it it's all I can see.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Robert Ludlum avoids "said" like the plague. Instead, all of his characters always "whisper" a response.

Then I expect his characters have to use those hearing horns you might see in cheap comedy film? I can only imagine it.

"Eh?"

"I told him to come back tomorrow."

"Speak up!"