Saying said...or not

When I took Journalism, my professor stressed the fact that when quoting an interview source, they only said things. They never explained, commented, preached, noted, screamed, or whispered. She believed that adding other descriptions to the answer took away from the quote. Other journalists and writers believe in that same sort of writing style.
Before that class I was used to writing only creative dialogues, so the change from descriptive words to the simple “said” was a little rough. Since then I have gotten used to it, but personally I think that only using “said” is not necessarily the only way to write a journalism piece.
Below I wrote a short dialogue, first using just “said”, and second with more descriptive words. “I think this is going to be one of the most innovative parties we’ve ever seen,” said Katrina Gnatek, 19.
Meghan Roth, 21 said, “It’s going to be different. Look at our DJs. They’re different. I’m really excited.”
Here is the second with some added flavor.
“I think this is going to be one of the most innovative parties we’ve ever seen,” yelled Katrina Gnatek, 19, before she charged into the bouncing bodies of gathered dancers.
Meghan Roth, a senior who has attended many pub parties in the last four years, nodded her head in agreement. “It’s going to be different. Look at our DJs. They’re different. I’m really excited.”
As you can see, the two different versions both say the same thing, but one is a little more interesting than the other. I think the journalist should ask themselves what they are trying to portray with their piece. If they are looking for something extremely professional and hard news, they should stick with the “said”. If not, add a little spice…I don’t think it ever hurt anyone.

Grammar and Rules and Such

I grew up in a household where grammar was not “taught.” My father, a high school English teacher and published author, strongly believed that knowing the rules of grammar did little to enable a writer to be a “good writer.” Instead, he often preached, anyone who wanted to know what constituted a well constructed sentence should simply pick up a book and read. The more a person read, he said, the more they would understand grammar. I never took a grammar class. I never learned the technical definitions of verbs, adverbs, infinitive phrases, or propositions. I just read a whole lot. Over time I picked up many of the rules from hearing people speak of them, and playing the somewhat awkward ice-breakers in class that always involved some definition or use of a grammar rule. On those occasions I listened carefully and made similar judgments to those around me.
Other than that I have never found my lack of grammararian rules to be a problem. I did quite well on both the SATs and the LSATs in the reading the writing comprehension sections. I seem to do fine writing papers. If you tell me that my grammar is wrong (who knows there might even be improper grammar in this piece) I will fix it according to how I think it should sound, not according to the rules surrounding the structure of the sentence.
From my experience, not knowing the rules of grammar does not mean that the individual will not be able to write well. If I did not know the rules and had never read much, then I might have a problem. I guess that in order to be a good writer there should be a balance of good reading, and some introduction to the rules of grammar.