I don't much like said-bookisms, and here is why...
Most of the books I read have good characterization, good dialogue, and good leadup, so when characters speak, I can tell by context and by the content of their speech how they are saying it. When really dramatic said-bookisms are inserted, I have to pause and re-imagine the character's dialogue. The said-bookism ends up standing out more than the actual words the character says. I think, ideally, speech is so in character that you don't even need tags to know who is saying what. You sometimes get that in intense arguments or exchanges, eventually the tags fall away and you can still tell who is speaking. At this point I'm so into the argument that I just want to know what is being expressed, and I can hear them shouting at each other in my head, and I don't want to pause and wait and read if the author thinks Cloud is grumbling or mumbling or whispering cranklily or whatever.
I think this is just another instance of having faith in your reader - have faith that they will picture the characters speaking the way you intend, or at least they way it suits them to interpret the scene. I do think that in writing less is more - writing is a two-player game. You write, and start the image, and the reader reads, and fills it in. This makes each reading experience unique, this makes reading more personal. When I read overly descriptive text or dialogue I feel like as I reader there is no space there for me, and I don't engage as much.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chiming
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 04:43 am (UTC)From:Most of the books I read have good characterization, good dialogue, and good leadup, so when characters speak, I can tell by context and by the content of their speech how they are saying it. When really dramatic said-bookisms are inserted, I have to pause and re-imagine the character's dialogue. The said-bookism ends up standing out more than the actual words the character says. I think, ideally, speech is so in character that you don't even need tags to know who is saying what. You sometimes get that in intense arguments or exchanges, eventually the tags fall away and you can still tell who is speaking. At this point I'm so into the argument that I just want to know what is being expressed, and I can hear them shouting at each other in my head, and I don't want to pause and wait and read if the author thinks Cloud is grumbling or mumbling or whispering cranklily or whatever.
I think this is just another instance of having faith in your reader - have faith that they will picture the characters speaking the way you intend, or at least they way it suits them to interpret the scene. I do think that in writing less is more - writing is a two-player game. You write, and start the image, and the reader reads, and fills it in. This makes each reading experience unique, this makes reading more personal. When I read overly descriptive text or dialogue I feel like as I reader there is no space there for me, and I don't engage as much.