English: Creative writing and Dialogue

He said "What kind of words can you use?"
She said "There are at least 325 alternatives, but your imagination is really the only limit"
"Thats interesting" he said
"Yes" she said

Said is overused.  Its functional but overused.

Many learn some standard, basic replacements like:

• She asked
• exclaimed John
• Mum questioned
• shouted Mary
• she whispered.

These and other alternatives make reading more interesting.

I have seen whole novels that leave these out entirely and just have line after line of dialogue.  Obviously the author is sick and tired of he said, she said.

BUT these make the characters come alive.  It puts expression and emotion into their otherwise bland conversations.  Lets face it,  people rarely SAY something.  Life is all about emotion or the lack of it.

Make your dialogue interesting.

Look at this e-book:

325 Dialogue Tags to Replace "Said" by Rusty Fischer