Elmore Leonard started out writing westerns, then turned his talents to crime fiction. One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, he wrote about two dozen novels, most of them bestsellers, such as Glitz, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, and Rum Punch. Unlike most genre writers, however, Leonard is taken seriously by the literary crowd.

His 10 rules of writingΒ are all worth serious consideration, but my my favorite is Rule #3.

3. Never use a verb other than β€œsaid” to carry dialogue.

Why? According to Leonard, “The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with β€œshe asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary.

Well said, Mr. Leonard. But there’s a simpler reason. As readers, we’ve been “trained” to ignore “said.” Further, you can’t chortle a sentence. Try it. “Sam, you make me laugh out loud,” chortled Diane.

As an author, I try to heed Leonard’s advice. As a reader, I find those “creative ways” of replacing “said” distracting. And as the editor of three multi-author anthologies of crime fiction, I’ve rejected stories simply because the author tried too hard to be “creative” and the thought of having to convince them to replace “chortled, chuckled, and cheered” with “said” too exhausting.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Kevin Kwan, author of the bestselling Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, seldom uses “said” if he can find a replacement. In book 3, Rich People Problems, the following are just a few examples of his dialogue tags as seen in Chapters 1 and 2. You can read excerpts of all three books here.

Carol proudly reported. Carol also: admonished; and observed.

Nadine wondered out loud.

Eleanor complained.

Daisy commented.

Lorena exclaimed.

Eddie yelled. Eddie also blurted.

Charlie quipped. CharlieΒ also: mumbled in shock, and teased.

Now to be fair to Kwan, unlike chortled, it is possible to blurt, yell or mumble a sentence. That said, as much as I loved the movie, Crazy Rich Asians (I’ve watched it twice), I couldn’t get through the book because I found the dialogue tags too distracting.

What about you, readers and writers? Said? Or Chortled?