ODI's Part II

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If you read my previous rant on Over-Descriptive Idiots, you'll probably understand this next one.

So the people I'm about to talk about may be Less ODI, or LODIs (lol). But still, they get on my nerves. Why, you may ask? Because they use their thesaurus for one word:

Said.

We may refer to them as 'said-bookisms', or simply 'bookisms' (because I'm not bothered to write said).

Now, for those of you who don't know what a 'bookism' is, it's basically any other word that can be used in place of the word 'said', like 'replied' or 'questioned'.

A lot of people (writers) refrain from using the word 'said' (it's so annoying to put those quote mark things so I'm just going to put it in italics from now on). I was saying, I've noticed quite a few wattpad writers a little hesitant when using the word said. It's boring, too simple, bla bla bla. Even I used to be like that. It gets repetitive at some point.

But what else gets repetitive and actually makes you more of an amateurish writer is when you use said-bookisms!

Don't believe me?
(I know, you've always loved my examples).

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"Africa, you've got to jump the ship!" Vociferated Asia.

"No, Asia! I'm scared!" Quivered Africa.

"You've got to jump, Asia's right," instructed Australia, Aussie for short. "It's the only way!" She exclaimed.

"Oh," muttered Africa.

"Jump over, NOW!" Ordained Asia.

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What's wrong with that, you may ask?

Here's a tip: you don't have to use big words all the time.

This little story isn't long enough for you to realise that if you read a story full of said bookisms, it would get exhausting. You'd eventually notice how the author was trying to avoid the word said, but what's wrong with the word said? I see no problem, really.

The science behind it all is that, when you use the word said in text, it becomes invisible. The reader overlooks this word and focuses more on the actions of the character and the tone it implies. For example, in the story, if we said:

"No, Asia! I'm scared!" Africa said, her teeth clattering and her arms gripped tightly on the pole.

Instead of ..."quivered Africa", we get the image that she quivered in a more vivid way - without the writer actually telling us. As the reader, you ignored the word said, and focused on her actions!

See?

It's alright to use the word said! Use said all you want because we won't notice!

I'm not saying that you shouldn't use bookisms too, though. They're good words to use. But not in excess. Don't try and sum up the character's feelings or actions in one word, as bookisms imply.

Also, bookisms are quite annoying in the sense that the author will have to pause and think about what it means before actually continuing. It's quite disruptive in a story, really.

Said is good.

Vociferated is not always good.
(But it's a cool word.)

- stay cool (y)

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