He Said, She Said

I was going through some sites that discuss writing technique and synonyms (synonyms are a personal favorite topic of discussion and the best means to strengthen your natural abilities at word choice) when I found one with more than 300 ways to say the word "said."

It was really a list in avoidance, complication and confusion.

First, and this is most important, the dialogue should be enough to convey the emotion or intent of the person saying the words. For example, you should never write "criticized" after a piece of dialogue. If the reader can't tell the person is criticizing then you have failed in the dialogue, not the writer's version of hand holding at the end.

Second, if the dialogue does convey that the person is criticizing, writing "criticized" afterward is repetitive and adds flab to the sentence.

The idea is to write so that the readers eyes flow through the text like a hot knife through butter. This allows them to gain full entry into the story and forget they are even reading.