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emmagrant01Dear average children's book author,
Please don't be afraid of using the dialogue tag "said". Please. I beg you.
No, really. The characters don't have to grin, giggle, spout, smile, cringe, or laugh their words out. Actually, no one does that, not even anthropomorphized cartoon animals. They just SAY things, and we can infer from the context (and even from the accompanying art) things like giggling or smiling.
Oh, and when you DO use a simple "said", it does NOT have to be modified by an adverb. Really, it doesn't.
In the meantime, I am editing your words as I read aloud to my 3 year old, because it's unbelievably distracting.
Emma
Please don't be afraid of using the dialogue tag "said". Please. I beg you.
No, really. The characters don't have to grin, giggle, spout, smile, cringe, or laugh their words out. Actually, no one does that, not even anthropomorphized cartoon animals. They just SAY things, and we can infer from the context (and even from the accompanying art) things like giggling or smiling.
Oh, and when you DO use a simple "said", it does NOT have to be modified by an adverb. Really, it doesn't.
In the meantime, I am editing your words as I read aloud to my 3 year old, because it's unbelievably distracting.
Emma
