Serious question about dialogue tags in writing prompts

I keep seeing writing prompts where people use "said" for EVERY piece of dialogue, even when a character is yelling or whispering. It drives me CRAZY because "said" is supposed to be invisible, but overusing it actually makes it stand out more. Last week I tried a prompt where I replaced half the "said" tags with actions instead, like "she slammed the table" or "he ducked his head." The whole scene felt way more alive. Has anyone else tried cutting way back on dialogue tags in their prompts or stories?

2 comments

2 Comments

umabailey19d ago

Yeah that action thing actually makes sense. Used to think said was always fine but now I'm rethinking my whole approach.

clark.iris19d ago

Owned that mistake hard myself last year. I was writing this fanfic and every single line was 'he said' 'she said' - it was so boring to read back even I couldn't stand it. Started swapping in little actions like 'she flipped the page' or 'he rubbed his eyes' and suddenly the whole scene felt alive. It's wild how such a small change can make a huge difference.