Can you guess yet? Yep. You said it. Whenever I read a book and they insist on putting dialogue tags at the end of everything my brain feels like it is going to explode. Especially if it is just two people talking. I don't get confused that easily. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. Shoot me now. I give some slack to writers just starting out, but I've read some that are on book 10 or so and keep doing it. Unless you are writing for toddlers, who I don't think would even get that confused, he said she said he said he said she said she said she said needs to go out the window.
And the voluminous words need to go take a humongous walk off a tremendous cliff. We get it. You know big words. Unless your character is one of those people that think their crap don't stink and needs to use big words to sound smart (I worked with one of those before) then you don't need to use words that make people look up the meaning or just skip over. When am I every going to use voluminous over large or big? If I want to expand my vocabulary, I'll read the dictionary.
Those are just two that popped in. Do you have anything that stops you from reading a book? And don't forget about the Twitter Pitch if you have a book ready to go. Also today is the day the winners are announced for last year's anthology contest. Have a look here!
Enjoy life, forget the strife.
Say those really big words for real life conversations with people who annoy you!
ReplyDeleteToo many dialogue tags is a newbie mistake. I know I've scaled mine way back over the years.
lol that is a good way to be. Yeah, I've scaled mine way back too.
DeleteI actually like big words! It’s nice to be treated like an adult! What makes me put a book down? Long winded descriptions of nature and inspirational phrases. ‘On Walden Pond’ goes in the campfire!
ReplyDeletelol big word lover. Even when they are jammed in there and make little sense? Well at least you have fire starter haha
DeleteSaid, said, said! Too much.
ReplyDeleteIndeed haha
DeleteNow watch the next book I read I'll be looking for those dialog tags, LOL :) I'm like Bijoux. I like the big words. I used to always talk to the kids with "adult" words (not swear words LOL) but not baby talk. It is good to increase one's vocabulary :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Yeah, it is good to increase one's vocabulary, but not just to have the words there to make one look smart. lol gotta watch those tags now
DeleteBLUE SAID, "Hello Cat!:
ReplyDeleteTHE CAT SAID, "Yo! "
BLUE SAID, "What's up at your show?"
THE CAT SAID, "Ready to go."
BLUE SAID, "Say it ain't so."
Just so you know at that Kitty Cat Show.
Great post from coast to coast!
R said.....GREAT POST!!
Deletefrom coast to coast...haha
Deletelol not this roast
DeleteI agree that too many dialogue tags are annoying. I try to eliminate them when I can in my own writing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I definitely try to keep them to a minimum these days
DeleteI'm laughing at the "he said" and "she said". Is this your "enter" button? I honestly never noticed but now I'm going to pay attention for the dialogue cues. My biggest pet peeve is slow, narrative descriptions. There's a difference between a cliffhanger and fluff. I can't stand books with unnecessary fluff!!! Another for me is confusing changes of setting. Some authors change between characters and timelines well. Others make me re-read things 20 times to figure when and who they're talking about! Unfortunately, my OCD doesn't let me not finish a book so I guess the true answer is nothing..although I reallllllyyyy want to put the book down.
ReplyDeletelol nah, I don't do it much anymore so no need to go all "enter" button lol The slow descriptions are just ugg. haha so all really bad writers just get you to read it. They'll always have one person finish it.
DeleteOh yeah the really big words that no one actually uses. I've seen that on a blog before and it just irritated me. Are they trying to impress someone?
ReplyDeleteThey usually are trying to impress or seem more important than they are.
DeleteHappy new year to You Pat
ReplyDeleteHappy NEw Digit Day!
DeleteHope your Christmas was a nice one and a Happy New Year to you! Said, said, said. I believe i overuse words where many wanted to scratch out what I wrote to make it better. I use some high falootin words but only when it pops into my feeble brain.
ReplyDeletehaha those high falootin ones when they pop in must really be needed. Hopefully you had great holidays too.
DeleteInteresting take on things. Oddly, I prefer books that have a dozen or so "big words" in them. I rarely think of a book as a new favorite if I walked away from it without learning something. A word, a fact, something true that I didn't know before.
ReplyDeleteI hope your New Year is going well. I only read and reviewed 23 books last year, but my goal for this year is 30. My other goals are to publish another fiction book in 2021, do the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April, and increase the number of authors helped by Operation Awesome.
Learning is great indeed, but just sticking them in there for the sake of sticking them in there gets an eye roll from me.
DeleteSounds like another great year of goals for you.
We live in the South, big is a big word here!
ReplyDeletelmao can't get much shorter
DeleteBrian's comment above made me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I said, "Blue Grumpster stole my schtick."
So, I (my dual personality) said, "Well, that's fine. The cat can just put up with my tags."
Well, I said, "Mine too. It can be a duel."
Arms akimo, I stated emphatically, "Foiled again."
"This was very lame, " I admit.
Tough day at work. "I've got nothing else to add, " I said.
haha work can do that, the cat said or didn't say.
DeleteLOL. I forgot about mentioning that one. I read a book recently that was translated. Fortunately, the plot was really good, otherwise, I would have stopped because of big words and not the quite right word.
ReplyDeleteThe not quite right ones is a good one too.
DeleteTime To He Said She Said
ReplyDeleteDon't get everybody mad
Just don't frown
Put the book down
Happily pick one not to upset
Hank
Go to another is the way
DeleteHey Pat! I don't like pretentious big words either. I don't like too many dialogue tags, but I have to admit that I can get confused if there aren't enough. I'm dogged though. I'll go back and track the characters speaking until I have sorted it out. You've had me look up more words than anyone else ~ but that's from your blog, not your books. Happy New Year, my friend!
ReplyDeletehaha yeah, don't have to worry about you. You'll figure it out even if you have to go through 50 times haha the cat does spit out some big ones, just to poke fun.
DeleteI had to learn to scale back on the he said, she said. I did it quite a bit. Bryan (our beer bud) taught me how to make dialogue flow better without it. I feel the same way you do about unnecessary words when it comes to difficult character's names. Why make them so complicated?
ReplyDeleteWarmly,
Elsie
At first I did it too, but then was like this is so annoying, so I stopped when unneeded. No need to get complicated indeed.
Delete"Well," she said, "I agree with the cat. She or he must be a resplendent creature with a philosophy to match. So pleased you've got her/him to remind you when to post. I should get one of those.
ReplyDeletelol agreeing with a cat. How about that? You may need one haha
Deletehe said, she said
ReplyDeleteI can't get you outta my head
here, I am dreaming in my bed
alive, but, feeling half dead
he said, she said
why are your eyes so red
maybe count stars instead
it's just my heart that bled
haha - okay went off on a tangent
lol he said she said down the path it led
DeleteSome big words are fine but too many is too hard for me!
ReplyDeleteToo many just get annoying
DeleteToo many characters to keep straight usually turns me off. I decided to read Game of Thrones before watching the series and like wtf to all the characters!? He drags on and on about dead kings and shit too that really hold no relevance to the story, or at least not much. Like Jax's peeve, I think the books have way too much fluff in them. But, at least they are putting me to sleep rather quickly at night.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he is a big one. On and on and on and on about useless shit he goes on and on and on about. They make me nap pretty quickly too.
DeleteI LOVE big words that sound like what they are. Hungry for them. But I have run across words that didn't need to be there. And the attribution bugs me, too. I love a dialogue between two people that goes on for six or seven pages without a single attribution. That's real life! What makes me want to quit reading? Typos. But ha ha, you already knew that, right? :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, when big words are used as needed, works. One can follow without them, especially with 2 people only. lol yeah, could have guessed that .
DeleteBig words. Nice! Especially if you know what they mean. ;)
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteAgreed. Good ones...I say:) Heh.
ReplyDeleteWorks for us we say
DeleteTotally with you on the endless he said she saids.
ReplyDeleteOn and on they can go
DeleteUseless back story that doesn't add a thing to the story (zzzzz), and too many typos. Both are discommodious to an esurient reader in hot pursuit of quality writing. ;)
ReplyDeleteBoth sure win indeed, in a lose way lol
DeleteVery. true. When it is only two people talking there is no need for He said. She said. He said. She said. He said.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there isn't
Delete