How do I write a shriek? [closed]
Closed by System on Jun 21, 2018 at 10:40
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I'm trying to write a shriek, something like "AHHHHH!" or "AAAAH!".
However, I don't really want to use all caps and repeated letters.
Does anyone know any other techniques of showing a scream occurred besides what I stated?
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Inarticulate speech or sounds is an instance where I tell, I do not show.
Shriek, Screech, Scream, Howl ... It can help if it startles somebody that comes bursting into the room to protect her, or she wakes up already screaming, if it echoes off the walls, if it pains her throat, if there is some other consequences of this action.
But I don't try to write anything readable to sound like a scream; I just don't find it ever works well. The same goes for laughing; beyond the single "Ha" we sometimes really voice (and recognize). And moaning, and the sobs of hard crying, or giggling, or roars. I Find ways to describe those using actual words or metaphor or simile.
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I'm gonna answer from experience as a reader, instead of a writer.
When you make your character shriek you usually want to send a shiver down your reader's spine. There have been many suggestions about describing the shriek instead of using an onomatopoeia and they are great, but if you have your heart set on using it, or it's more appropiate for your medium because you lack a narrator (like it can often happen in comics or videogames), I've always found "AIIEEEEE" to have a particularly strong impact:
When I read the question title: "How do I write a shriek?" I immediately thought of the first time I saw this onomatopoeia: It was in the videogame "Monkey Island", and the expression got burned in my impressionable kid mind.
Graphic adventures (and 90's RPGs) were a lot like books or comics. They communicated a lot of character with just wording and a few pixels, and there was an impact in that onomatopoeia that I just hadn't experienced before with any other written scream, and I couldn't explain why.
Note: Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image of that exact moment of the game, will edit if I do.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37090. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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