As noted in Tem42's excellent writeup, said-bookisms are taught in school despite the students being forced to read books that don't interest them and don't even use any dreaded said-bookisms.
The thing is, as most avid readers will attest, the word "said" is as transparent as punctuation. We know it's there, we understand what it does, and it gets processed without requiring a lot of mental thought. By forcing unusual wording, we're drawing attention to something that should not be in the forefront. Yes, it is true that the word appears often, but so do commas, quotes, and question marks.
Once you've identified who is taking, there are several methods to make sure the reader is grounded in the conversation.
- Every three or so turns between two characters, you can add in a "said".
- The better way one can anchor the conversation is to add in stage business, or describing something the character is doing without informing the reader who is speaking with a "said":
"I didn't know about the curse." Jason toyed nervously with his machete. "I'm not sure what happened to all those teenagers."
- The best way to anchor text is to develop unique voices for all of the characters. Accents, repetative phrasing, vocabulary use -- all can be used to show who is speaking. This requires a lot of additional work and to develop consistency. An example could be Hagrid from Harry Potter. You always know when he's speaking.
The last method works best for longer stories. I tend to use stage business in short and long tales. If you're just starting out in the writing biz, this is an easy method to set yourself apart from the rest of the beginning folks.
Iron Noder 2017