Said or says?

[melchi]

Is there a right one to use? I find myself sometimes switching back and forth. Is that bad?

 

[Story_Marc]

I recommend said. Says is present tense.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

"I want to kill him," says the angered captain. (Present tense)

VS.

"I want to kill him," said the angered captain. (Past tense)

 

[avaseofpeonies]

You should definitely not be switching back and forth. Pick a tense and stick to it.

Past tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe said. He opened the door and held it while she walked into the store. "Thank you," she said.

Present tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe says. He opens the door and holds it while she walks into the store. "Thank you," she says.

You can use either, just be consistent. (I hate present tense with a fiery passion, but a lot of people like it because they're heathens.)

 

[LunaSoltaer]

Whichever one matches the tense of your book

 

[RepresentingCaution]

You should definitely not be switching back and forth. Pick a tense and stick to it.

An editor can do this for you, but it annoys her.

Present tense is great if you use flashbacks, because then you can use past tense for the flashbacks. Otherwise, it's more traditional to write in past tense.

 

[avaseofpeonies]

btw, take my personal commentary with a grain of salt and use whatever tense you like. One of my favorite stories here on SH is in first person present, the absolute worst tense of them all imho, but I loved the story enough to carry on with it, and I will probably read it again someday.

Also, an exception would be dialogue. Say your narrative is in present tense, but your characters are talking about something that happened in the past, then you would use past tense within the dialogue.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

btw, take my personal commentary with a grain of salt and use whatever tense you like. One of my favorite stories here on SH is in first person present, the absolute worst tense of them all imho, but I loved the story enough to carry on with it, and I will probably read it again someday.

Also, an exception would be dialogue. Say your narrative is in present tense, but your characters are talking about something that happened in the past, then you would use past tense within the dialogue.

I see your first person present and raise you either second person past or maybe second person present continuous.

 

[avaseofpeonies]

I see your first person present and raise you either second person past or maybe second person present continuous.

I forgot about those. Probably because if I ever see it (reader x whatever stories) I just pretend I didn't see it.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

A lot of readers prefer past tense over present ones.

And personally, I--as an author--finds it easier to narrate in past tense.

 

[georgelee5786]

Said is past tense, says is present tense

 

[Tempokai]

Opened his/her mouth. I was drilled this when I was in the college, so I mostly avoid says/said. I don't remember why, but the one who teached hated it.

 

[melchi]

I see your first person present and raise you either second person past or maybe second person present continuous.

Some games use 2nd person. There is a place when it is supposed to be the person playing the game as the main character.

 

[Story_Marc]

You should definitely not be switching back and forth. Pick a tense and stick to it.

Past tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe said. He opened the door and held it while she walked into the store. "Thank you," she said.

Present tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe says. He opens the door and holds it while she walks into the store. "Thank you," she says.

You can use either, just be consistent. (I hate present tense with a fiery passion, but a lot of people like it because they're heathens.)

I'm glad to see a fellow hater present tense. It's so unnatural. The only thing I hate more than regular present tense is first-person present tense.

 

[sanitylimited]

Opened his/her mouth. I was drilled this when I was in the college, so I mostly avoid says/said. I don't remember why, but the one who teached hated it.

its to reduce repition and add more depth to the characters. said/says is extremly simplistic and lacks emotional details

 

[Story_Marc]

its to reduce repition and add more depth to the characters. said/says is extremly simplistic and lacks emotional details

Opened his mouth doesn't add depth. And you want to avoid emotional details because the dialogue itself should be strong enough. The "lack of emotional details" is a lack of telling. Creative tags are, for the most part, unnecessary, while stuff like said is nearly invisible to readers. If you're going to use a character beat, use a character beat that actually makes a difference.

 

[Narcissistic_loser]

Maybe says is actually the root of all evil

 

[melchi]

Opened his mouth doesn't add depth. And you want to avoid emotional details because the dialogue itself should be strong enough. The "lack of emotional details" is a lack of telling. Creative tags are, for the most part, unnecessary, while stuff like said is nearly invisible to readers. If you're going to use a character beat, use a character beat that actually makes a difference.

Yeah, being creative with tags is okay I think but the main point remains to identify who is talking. People that use really long tags on dialogue tend to step into word salad mode IMO.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

You should definitely not be switching back and forth. Pick a tense and stick to it.

Past tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe said. He opened the door and held it while she walked into the store. "Thank you," she said.

Present tense: "Hi, Mary," Joe says. He opens the door and holds it while she walks into the store. "Thank you," she says.

You can use either, just be consistent. (I hate present tense with a fiery passion, but a lot of people like it because they're heathens.)

Whoo! I'm a heathen!

Opened his/her mouth. I was drilled this when I was in the college, so I mostly avoid says/said. I don't remember why, but the one who teached hated it.

Said/says can still be used, and should be used too for dialogue. I just would recommend describing how they say it. Do they do it with a rasp? A gutteral growl? Is each word dripping with sarcasm? Is it said cheerily? There are so many ways to describe tone. Also, I'm sure what the teacher meant besides describing "said/says" is by replacing it with words like (and I'm going to use past-tense only for brevity and keep in mind that oftentimes, when using one of these words, you need to tack on "out" right after them to tie it in to speaking it): yelled, shouted, screamed, rasped, growled, snarled, whooped, giggled, chuckled, stuttered, moaned, groaned, blared (this one is rarely used for dialogue, unless it's an animal), threatened, complimented, whispered, muttered, ...uhm trying to think of more... wait I know, thought aloud, stated, declared, commanded, demanded, cursed, spit, buzzed, grinded, spoke, sung, gnashed, ...
Yeah. I am too hungry for dinner to think of more. Hope it helped!

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I don't like present tense as much, but there is a popular author who writes third person present