Said is Dead… isn’t it?

Hi All! I’m reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print on editing. Right now I’m in the chapter dialogue mechanics. And the chapter talked about how the use of dialogue tags can be a sign of amateur writing. Then it went on to say how said is usually the best dialogue tag.

But isn’t said dead? That’s been ingrained in my writing habits since elementary school. Said was all but banned in writing. I see posters of it on Pinterest. But this made me question if said really was dead.

Why? I began to wonder as the chapter continued by discussing how the various verbs and adverbs detract from the message of the dialogue.

While said is dead is a catchy phrase to stick in a child’s mind to try and improve their writing. I think I may have forgotten the original point which was to stop the use of adverbs after said.

Such as:

Said easily

Said happily

Said angrily

And all those other adverbs that tack on so nicely after said.

But there’s also a finer art of knowing when to use a verb and when you let the dialogue speak for itself.

For example:

“You! You’re the reason this went wrong!” Pointed out X.

Pointed out might not be the dialogue tag that best fits here. It’s redundant. We know X is pointing something out or angry by the words X uses.

A better version might be;

“You! You’re the reason this went wrong,” said X, jabbing his hand at Y.

Maybe better? It’s a work in progress and definitely food for thought. Dialogue tags aren’t something I think much about when writing first drafts and editing. But now I’m thinking about them.

What dialogue tags have you found distracting? Do you find any detract from an authors writing skill? Do you agree is said dead or just misused?