Another suggestion from "Good Writing" by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott advises using "said" for dialogue.
"Said" doesn't impose your intentions on the reader. Let the character speak for herself.
What else would you write? They suggest no to use chuckled, observed, stated, declared, avowed, or whatever.
Which reminds me of the truckload of Thesauruses that overturned. Passersby were "amazed, bemused, confounded, dumbfounded, horrified, stunned..."
To review the early chapters:
- Write better at the sentence level.
- Verbs carry the action.
- Avoid abuse of adverbs and adjectives.
- The "active voice" works better much of the time.
- Limit "is" and "has."
- "Says" allows the speaker freedom to express their emotion.
Lagniappe. Sports parents punch above their weight. Sacrifices land on them first. Sportsmanship dicta fly away when a child struggles or gets hurt. Ellen set a standard I could never reach. She cheers for both teams. She assured the other team got flowers on Senior Night. "How can I help?" was always her mantra. She is the "nice one" in the family.
A Facebook influencer shared her wisdom. "High school is where you look for your bridesmaids, not your spouse." She said so.
Lagniappe 2. Another in the "women being seen and heard" series... just watch a few minutes now. Distilled, Ms. Adichle wants women to be taken seriously. That will require raising children differently. It has well over five million views, necessary views. Adult topics are discussed which may make us uncomfortable. Maybe we need to be uncomfortable. "By being born female they are already guilty of something."
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