Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Another good question to be considered this week – do you use “said” or “asked” following a question mark? Or any other punctuation mark?

And remember to pay a visit to my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

The question this week is another one to really flex the old grey matter and get me thinking. It also sent me running to look through my book to see what I have done. It’s an interesting one. It can be quite clumsy to see “he asked” or “she said” immediately following a punctuation mark.

I have used something afterwards where it helps, but certainly not to the point I am saying “so and so asked” or “they said” and so on. That grates on me for one thing. If a new character has entered the fray though, well that is different. Some sort of qualifier is helpful. For example:

“Queen are easily the greatest rock band of all time.”
“How can you discount The Rolling Stones, Rebecca?” Michael interupted her monologue as he entered the room.

It’s needed in that scenario as it helps highlight/introduce a new character. But if the key players in a conversation are clearly defined, it serves no purpose. It’s using words for the sake of it, not adding anything to the prose.

And for the record, I am fond of both Queen and The Rolling Stones. I prefer AC/DC though, given a choice.