By John Sammon
In writing a novel (or a nonfiction book) you will use good grammar. In this column I will not be covering that topic or punctuation or any of the most basic skills in writing.
I’m assuming you already have such skills.
If you don’t, you need to take an English class.
One of the requirements of writing a book is to avoid repetition. This is pretty easy to understand.
For example, you would not want to write a sentence that reads:
He made his way to the corner and that way was the only way he could go because in his own way he had to weigh the options of the ways in which he reasoned he could get away.
You have used the word “way” and similar sounding words, (pardon the pun), “way” too many times.
This to a reader is not only aggravating, but even worse, marks you out as a bad writer.
One of the most common repetitions is overuse of the words ‘he said’ or ‘she said.’
When you have a character quote in your novel, you often use these, or a person’s name and the word ‘said,’ like ‘Dave said,’ or ‘Mary said.’
Overuse of the word ‘said’ can mark your novel as not well-thought-out, but even worse, brand you as an author who is lazy.
Repetition, using the same word over and over again in a novel means monotony to a reader.
There are many ways to avoid this.
The first way is to leave the word ‘said’ out completely.
For example:
“That won’t go,” Jack reasoned.
You haven’t written, “That won’t go,” Jack said.
You used the word ‘reasoned’ instead of ‘said.’
If you have two people in a scene talking, the reader will know who is saying what without use of the word ‘said.’
Jack was angry and yelled “Get out!”
Bill asked, “Why should I?”
“Because I said so.”
“What if I won’t.”
“Then I’ll make you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
You don’t need to say Jack said, Bill said, Jack said, Bill said.
The reader knows who is saying what.
This makes the passage more dramatic and less ponderous.
It speeds the action up.
You can also use other words other than ‘said’ to indicate someone speaking a quote.
For instance:
“Get out of my way,” Pete threatened.
You used the word ‘threatened’ instead of ‘said.’
Or,
“It’s a long way to Tipperary,” Joe observed.
You used the word ‘observed’ instead of ‘said.’
Using other words so you don’t overuse the word ‘said’ helps to streamline a novel and makes it easier to read but be careful.
Don’t use alternative words to take the place of ‘said’ that are too high-brow, ponderous, unwieldy or dull.
For example:
“I think it’s probably a done deal,” Alan postulated.
This is a bit much.
‘Postulated’ means to suggest something.
Some readers won’t know what it means, but it’s too highfalutin (pretentious) anyway.
You don’t want the reader to think that you’re trying to sell yourself as an overeducated snob.
It would be better to say:
“I think it’s probably a done deal,” Alan guessed.
You can use action to introduce a quote.
The reader will know who’s saying it.
Frank rapped his knuckles on the window. “Come on out here.”
The reader knows it’s Frank who is saying this.
Using a person’s name eliminates the need to use the word ‘said’ for a response in the very next quote.
“I need you to drive, Joe.”
“Okay.”
The reader knows it’s Joe saying “okay.”
You don’t need to say,
“Okay,” Joe said.
It takes some time and work to come up with sensible and creative alternatives and thus avoid using the same words over and over again.
But it’s what makes a good novelist.
Next week onto another topic, the roman a’ clef; this is where you write a novel that has a character based on a real living person (or even someone dead), and you simply change their real name to a fictitious one in your book. You have to be extra careful with this, or you can find yourself in a courtroom being sued for libel.
