Characters chortle,look, shrug, shriek, stammer, glare, and speak their dialog in a variety of ways. It is often recommended to use "said" most often as a dialog tag, because "said" tends to disappear while reading. "Said" is less distracting.
So what do you do when you need a character to do more? In this exercise, work with your own WIP, with a section that contains plenty of dialog. Remove all the dialog tags and replace them with "said." Read your work. Now, try to convey the action and emotion of the scene within your narrative without changing the "said" tags. Use all the senses to help you.
Were you able to do it? How many "said" tags did you find had to be replaced?
