Attribution tips

After finally convincing reporters that use of excellent quotes -- personality revealing quotes, full of "voice" -- should be part of nearly all stories, you may be confronted with attribution weirdness.

Students seem to revel in using alternative attributive verbs, like stated, laughed, opined... you get the picture. But the main verb they need is simply "said." Said is not only correct, but it carries no potential editorial baggage. It provides attribution but is almost invisible to readers. You can prove this to yourself by counting the use of "said" in any front page story from your own local paper. Students will be amazed at how many times it is used.

Once you get the attributive verb "said" firmly established, consider working on the order of the attributive phrase. Although "write like you talk" is advice that often leads writers astray, in this case the pattern "she said," as opposed to "said she" is superior. No one would ever say to a friend in the hall, "Said Mary to me last night..."

Reasonable rules for attribution might be:
1. All direct quotes require an attribution phrase.
2. Use the verb "said."
3. The correct phrase order is "speaker said."

One last thought: I see many stories that end with a direct quote, which is a good choice structurally. But the power of the quote is diluted when the final phrase of the story is "he said." The attribution phrase is best placed within the quote, or beginning the quote. Copy editors call this "burying the attribution."

So one last suggested rule:
4. Don't let the final word a reader takes from your story be "said."