Can someone help me out here?

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I write a lot of stories about people interacting, but sometimes I can't think of a word other than "said". I don't know what these sorts of words are called, you know like words you write after a character says something, like "said John", "John whined", "John whispered", "shouted John", "asked John". Do you get what I mean?

Sometimes I can't always think of alternative words to use, and "said" or "shouted" gets a bit boring. Because I can't word it right (I'll be surprised if anyone here understands what I mean), it's hard to look up for a list of these words on Google.

Has anyone got a list of words to use after a character in a story says something, to help my stories be more interesting?

This turns up a good few alternatives:

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/say

In addition to alternatives to "John said," you can also indicate who is speaking next by mentioning something they did. For example:

John folded his newspaper and placed it on the table with a weary look on his face.
"I can't take reading the headlines anymore, it's all so depressing. . ."

He rose from his chair and left Jane perplexed.
"Wait, where are you going?"

You can see how the reader knows who said what by something that marries the character to the piece of dialogue.

You can mix this in with the usual 'Johh sighed' and 'Jane called out,' etc.