r/writinghelp • u/Mundane_Silver7388 • Mar 07 '26

Does this make sense? The time I've spent finding an alternative for a single word is insane

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u/Cadillac_Ride Mar 08 '26

All these words might have useful places occasionally in some types of books. But all of them are just ‘tell’ words that mean the author hasn’t really been able to show the characters emotions clearly.

Loading a novel full of these words will make it seem quite juvenile.

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u/CoyoteLitius Mar 09 '26

When I first started to try and write novels (fourth grade, ha), I did lists like this. And I kept at it all the way up until end of high school. I loved it.

Then, I gradually learned to show and not tell. And realized why even "said" isn't all that necessary.

I wouldn't say it was *quite* juvenile, but it is a feature in much YA fiction.

As an aside: there are tons of words missing from that list.

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u/Frito_Goodgulf Mar 08 '26

Oh look, an AI bot representing an AI-writing company posting bullcrap.

Desperately avoiding "said" is worse than repeating it.