"Hello," she smiled.
That's easy to correct. The speech tag ("she smiled") has to describe speaking.
"I don't know," he shrugged. What? How can you "shrug" words? Other words used as speech tags that shouldn't be include "grinned," "trembled" "beamed" and so many more.
"Said" is the finest speech tag in the language. Use it shamelessly. Not forever, but without embarrassment.
Do you really need a speech tag? Maybe not. If only two people are talking, you don't have to keep telling the reader who's talking. It's nice to slip in a clue or two once in a while, but avoid sounding like a drone.
Friday, August 24, 2007
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