Plip, plip…
I’ve gotten in trouble for saying it before, but I’ll continue to say it until everybody realizes that I am right. There is rarely – if ever – a need for a word other than “said.” No “yelped,” no “exclaimed,” definitely not “burbled,” and for God’s sake, never, ever “ejaculated” (think that’s a goofy example? Try reading the original Tom Swift novels some time).
It breaks up the flow, it adds little, and in fact can subtract from the reader’s experience of making it up as they go along. It’s hard to fill in the gaps when the author has already done it for you.
And on that note, Kung Fu Monkey linked through to How to Write Screenplays. Badly. A new favorite blog. Just take a look at their entry on Onomotopeias.
Substituting onomatopoeic words in place of these run-of-the-mill verbs is a quick and easy way to inject some metaphorical hot beef into your screenplay. Onomatopoeia, of course, is the process of creating words that phonetically resemble the sounds they’re supposed to represent, such as buzz or fart. Not only will onomatopoeic verbs keep your screenplay feeling fresh and minty, but they can also help to splush a more vivid and engaging cinematic vision.
[Did you see what I did there? Splush is the onomatopoeic version of the word paint! In screenwriting terms, this is called a transition (or tranny). As in: “Did you hear that Mamet got caught doing a tranny?”]
“Priceless,” he chortled.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:42 am
Verbs like “asked” and “yelled” aren’t too bad, but I agree, that’s probably as far as you should take it. You certainly shouldn’t use these words in place of “said” just because you can, just for variety’s sake alone.
In a similiar vein, I present:
“Novelist Thinks People Shrug 10 Times More Than They Actually Do.”
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48465
It’s the adverbs after “said” that bug me. If I had a nickel for every time one of J.K. Rowling’s characters said something “darkly”... What does that even mean? I know what she thinks it means. I know what it’s supposed to mean in context. But how does one speak “darkly”?
By the by…those mix CDs coming along anytime…? (he said, darkly)