Good morning, Saturday people. My question for today is…
Do you sigh? Do your characters sigh? Mine do, I found out. Yep, these guys are real mouth breathers. A recent “search and destroy” on my WIP revealed my 26 cases of sighing. Dissatisfied, mournful bunch, eh? Oh, I’ll admit, a few times they’ve huffed. A groan or two escapes. The boring but necessary “exhaled” makes an appearance. But these few descriptive verbs aren’t enough to deal with 26 occurrences of the almighty sigh. What should I do? Is it just me, or do others labor over descriptions for the troubled, bored, wistful or otherwise disenfranchised character? Help!
Pam sighed, thinking that no one would likely answer her plea…
As a non-fiction writer I don’t typically encounter this situation for my articles but I do understand your predicament. Sometimes in my personal emails I will type in “sigh” and then delete it, thinking it doesn’t accurately describe what I’m feeling. On the upside, sounds like you’ve got it covered with all your descriptive verbs! Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. Exhale. 🙂