How should I write "shush" in a narrative?
I said shshshsh! I know I could say shush, but there are times when I really have to say shshshshsh. What would be the best way of writing this. Maybe Shhhhhh?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/10529. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
It's a transliteration of a sound, so write what you hear. If it's one long sound you write
Shhhhhhhh!
(however many Hs amuse you)
If it's a short one, you write
Shhh!
with three Hs. One or two look like a typo (Sh! and Shh!). Four and it becomes the long version.
Sometimes I actually say the word "Shush!" so I'd write that word, but that's not the shhh! sound you're after.
If your speaker is actually repeating the short sound over and over (so there's absolutely no sustain on the hiss, as if you were trying to say "she" and stuttering), then your first example is correct.
He began to whimper.
"Shshshshsh, baby, don't cry," she soothed him.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads