Said, said and SAID

[eduthepenguin]

Continuing in my quest to improve my writing skills, I turn again to the grammarians (yes, it's a word, which you should know if you read the essay I provided in my last entry, so pah) in my friends-list. I've run into a snag with dialogue writing. This is actually more of a nuance than an actual problem, but here it goes anyway

Comments

[sparklyoctopus]

Comma should be inside. It looks less sloppy and keeps all the goods inside. And I've had english teachers tell me to do it both ways, mind you. I usually ignore them, though...

[eduthepenguin]

You're such a REBEL. Heh.

[themorningstarr]

If I recall correctly, whether the comma goes inside or outside the quotation marks is quite regional (by country, I believe). But as far as I know, both are technically correct.

The use of "he/she said," or "said X" as opposed to "he replied," "she stated," and "he inquired" seems to be preferred amongst most of my writerly friends. Strunk and White and Stephen King are also proponents of plain old fashioned "said." I've read that it's less distracting to the reader. With a lot of plain "saids" you tend to skip over it and it makes for smoother reading of dialogue.

[eduthepenguin]

I agree that it sounds nicer to use "he/she said" and "said X", and for the most part I do. However, I like using "replied" when the person is, for example, answering a question or, obviously, replying to something that has been said, especially in dialogues where there's more than two people speaking, so the reader knows clearly who the person "replying" is talking to.

[miriampenguin]

I've heard the same as morningstar.
Specifically, in the US, the comma goes inside the quotes. Whereas in British English, I believe, it's typically outside of the quotes.

Though I forget what you would do if there's other punctuation... I think it's like this:
"Jane?", he asked. "What did you do to the toaster?"

As for the whole 'said' issue... I actually hadn't given it much thought. However, looking at what morningstar said about it, I'd tend to agree, unless the word you use instead of said/asked adds context:

"Jane!", Steve hollered from the kitchen. "What the fuck did you do the toaster?"

Oh, and using 'exclaimed' bugs me somewhat, since it's over-used and is redundant if you have an exclamation point. Only place I might see it fitting is if you're writing something in the style of a comic book. :P

Oh, and speaking of not using over-used and vague words, you might be interested in thisNote that I'm not a grammarian... in fact, I never was taught proper grammar from the inside out (at least, not in English. I learned more grammar in Spanish

[miriampenguin]

Oops. Didn't see the extra r in morningstarr.

[miriampenguin]

... Or the 'the', apparently. :P

Must be bedtime. :P

[miriampenguin]

Oooops. Looks like I was wrong about the extra comma.

Found this linked to the grammar page you posted before.

[nvr2blonde]

Comma before.

If you are having to use too many attributions, (he said, she said), then your writing is too weak.

If you are explaining things well enough, few of those are needed, because the reader will KNOW who is speaking.

Also start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes, or you are coming out of descriptive narrative.

[eduthepenguin]

Well, I knew about the new paragraph. And, as far as I know, the speaker needs to be specified only the first time he speaks in a stream of continous dialogue.

-------
"Hi, Sandy," said Mike.

"Hey, Mike, how are you doing?" Sandy replied.

"Pretty good, how about you?"

"Same as always. You know how it is."

Before Mike could say anything else, his cellphone rang.

"Hello, Mike Duvall speaking," he said into the device.

-----

That's pretty much how I write my dialogues, all in all.