: How to write a sentence with expression, tone, emphasis, and more in the same line That might not be the correct way of writing the title. I just find it really confusing on how to write
That might not be the correct way of writing the title. I just find it really confusing on how to write that. Anyways, my question is about having those "things" in the same sentence. Let say that I am writing a line about a prisoner inside a cell. He is coughing, trembling, and crying. How can I express this in a sentence with "that" to get the reader's attention.
Here is an example of a line from a book called "The 100".
The guard cleared his throat as he shifted his weight from side to
side. "Prisoner number 319, please stand."
As you can see on that sentence the words "clear throat" and "shifted his weight". It want to know how to express a sentence similar to that and possibly with more than one adjective and verb.
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You've provided very little information, so I will approach this like a cooking reality show. You've given me three ingredients/words to use: coughing, trembling, and crying. So let's make something out of them.
If I'm correct in interpreting your question, you simply want to dress up your sentences, so they convey mood, action and perhaps some emotion. In essence, you want your sentences to do more than just say what is happening, you want to show-make us feel what is happening which is what good writing is supposed to do in the first place...so this does require some practice.
Using your example of a man sitting in a cell and the (3) words you've provided, you can easily construct complex sentences that does some heavy literary lifting.
Before we dive in, you'll want to keep three things in mind:
-
There is no "limit" (within reason) to how long your sentences have to be, but only use the necessary amount of words to say what you need
to convey or else you'll fall into bad purple prose territory.
Use punctuation to your advantage as it can control pacing and flow
Watch your sentence structure, one misplaced pronoun, adjective or comma and you've written gibberish.
-
WORD SOUP SAMPLE 1:Introduce some danger
He was trembling uncontrollably, too much to cry, and he stifled his
coughs with his fists so he wouldn't wake his roommate whose eyes were as hard and cold as the walls surrounding him.
In this example, after I used the words you provided, I added an element of danger, a real threat in a place like a jail cell. I don't know what your character's situation looks like, but consider using his surroundings to remind us that he's in a bad situation that can turn worse at any moment.
I've also peppered in a simile:
...his roommate whose eyes were as hard and cold as the walls surrounding him...
Similes can be powerful tools when trying to help your reader visualize a scene.
-
WORD SOUP SAMPLE 2: Play with Punctuation
The tears finally stopped coming, but now, he couldn't stop trembling
as he coughed violently, wrapped tightly up under the short,
scratchy blanket they provided everyone upon entry.
In this example, I played with punctuation, specifically with commas. I like how they control the pacing, and how the ideas seem to unfold slowly. Tends to build tension without anything really happening.
You'll also notice, I inferred he was crying in this example, instead of simply saying it. You could do the same with
trembling: change it to shaking, or...
coughing: changing it to choking on the air around him.
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WORD SOUP SAMPLE 3: Say It!
Stop your crying, he coached himself, trembling and bracing himself through violent bouts of coughing brought upon by the dusty blanket he had carefully cocooned himself into; they'll have to pry me out of here.
He's actually thinking it rather than saying it in this example, but it can be done either way. I've used dialogue to introduce crying into the sentence.
This version also focuses more on his mood, which is fear considering he's wrapped tightly under a dusty blanket that is making him cough. Cough in this case is doing some double duty, giving us some action and really giving us a good idea of the mood.
That's all I've got for now. No more soup for you!
-
Suggestions:
KEEP A LIST:
I'm assuming you read. When you do, take notes of all the complex sentences that stand out to you and jot them down on an accessible list you can reference from time to time.
Before I write, I usually look at these lists and they help with the creative writing process a great deal as I can immediately apply some of the strategies.
PRACTICE
Spend time practicing this very exercise you've inadvertently devised. Come up with your own three sentences and see which one sounds the best.
So go on...and get cookin'!
(I don't understand why you are distilling the necessary length down to a sentence - you have all the space you need ... except on twitter.)
But OK, based on the comments here's how your question reads to me. I might be way off base.:
I would like to be a writer but when I write a sentence, it comes out wrong. Shallow, flat, amateurish. I want something more sophisticated. How do I get there?
Again - I might be off in my interpretation.
The advice I follow, and give to others, is this: just get the crappy copy on paper. The first draft will be bad. Expect it to be bad, and write it. Plan for it to be bad. Celebrate having a bad draft.
It's better than no draft.
Then, revise. I'm a novice at fiction. I'm on revision 18. This is pathetic! But, the story didn't exist a year ago, and I bet it would hold your interest well enough. It is not yet good enough to query, but way closer than draft ten, which was a far sight better than draft four.
Revise. Revise revise. No one ever needs to see the crappy copy. First draft can have none of what you specify, and then you can massage it in, add, delete, reorder, etc. Get it to that place you see in your mind.
Here are some quotes from good authors:
It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them
think you were born that way. – Ernest Hemingway
.
If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have
sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write. –
Somerset Maugham
.
It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.
– C. J. Cherryh
.
And lots more ...
ETA:
Based on examples given, it seems you may be looking at different roles of dialog and narration.
Dialog is a tricky beast. It must be both natural, and entirely unnatural.
Every natural dialog I've ever written has been edited so, so heavily to make it work. It ends up unnatural, but it sounds natural. Because, pacing is so important, and natural dialog on the page is often so mundane (=slow).
Narrative, and action tags for dialog, can help the dialog come out right. These serve their own purpose. Because we want dialog to be natural, it can't convey everything on the written page. Sarcasm, sincerity, unconcern, other emotions - all of these are not communicated by the words but the physical actions or tone of the speaker.
It's not a matter of making the dialog more appealing. The 'extra words' (narration) constrain the dialog.
Occasionally something like tone can be implied in dialog rather than stated in narration.
"He's never wrong."
"Watch your tone."
This can tell you that the first dialog bit has 'tone.' Sarcasm. But in most cases you need something more overt. @Amadeus made a good point many many months back. Among other things, narrative allows time to pass for the reader. So, in the case below:
"He's never wrong." She said it sulkily, as though perhaps he should
be wrong, once in a while, if for no other reason than to understand
how she felt every single day.
"Watch your tone."
The narrative gives the reading brain time to feel out what it is that the first person is thinking and feeling. The reader is not swept along 'too quickly' by dialog. Pacing. Guiding. Making a contract with the reader.
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