The Said Book: A GR Press Classic (Paperback or Softback)

Have you ever used a thesaurus? You know, a book that offers synonyms for words, so you don't have to keep repeating the same few words.

How about a thesaurus for only one word? In this case, the word is "said," and this book offers synonyms for the word "said" in seventy-six different categories of usage.

At the time it was written-at least according to author Harley Franklin Wight-a writer's greatest fear was using the word "said" too often, and the height of the literary art was to use as many synonyms for the word-that also conveyed the sense of the mood, character, setting, or whatever else-as possible.

This long-unavailable dinosaur of a writer's reference book is now present, available, findable... it's back. But a warning: use sparingly.

Harley Franklin Wight, also known as HFWight, in the 1930s wrote several reference books for writers. Perhaps best known among them is Murder Manual: A Handbook for Mystery Story Writers. He is also the author of the bane of new authors, The Said Book, which provides far too many synonyms for the innocuous word "said."

Ian Randal Strock is an author, editor, publisher, and historian known for his contributions to speculative fiction, publishing, and popular history. He is the 2025 winner of the Skylark Award and two previous AnLab Awards. As the owner of Fantastic Books and Gray Rabbit Publications, Strock has worked extensively as a science fiction editor and independent publisher while also writing fiction, nonfiction, and commentary on history, language, and politics. He is the author of books including Punctilious Punctuation, Wandering Through Time, The Presidential Book of Lists, Ranking the First Ladies, and Ranking the Vice Presidents.