Writing Sneezes

[Captain Carol]

Um...so I'm fairly new here, and I was hoping to try and get active and what not. With some stories and stuff. My only issue is spelling. Like, writing Sneezes in particular besides just writing "achoo". If people have any advice it will most certainly be welcome.

[SneezyHolmes]

I usually make my spellings based off what I hear in WAV's, movies, my own, etc.! It also helps to, this is gonna sound weird but, sounding out the sneeze you want to write as in how you would think it sounds if you heard it aloud. That probably doesn't make much sense so here's some examples..

Muffled/Stifled - 'Hh'MptCh!' or 'Heh'ExTCh!'

Loud - 'Hhh'TSccHh!' or 'Hehh'StChh!'

Regular/Generic - 'ExTCh!', 'HrSTchh!', or 'XtcHh!'

[Captain Carol]

5 minutes ago, SneezyHolmes said:

I usually make my spellings based off what I hear in WAV's, movies, my own, etc.! It also helps to, this is gonna sound weird but, sounding out the sneeze you want to write as in how you would think it sounds if you heard it aloud. That probably doesn't make much sense so here's some examples..

Muffled/Stifled - 'Hh'MptCh!' or 'Heh'ExTCh!'

Loud - 'Hhh'TSccHh!' or 'Hehh'StChh!'

Regular/Generic - 'ExTCh!', 'HrSTchh!', or 'XtcHh!'

Sound it out? So maybe like try and make the noises outloud and what not, and try to spell that?

[SneezyHolmes]

Kind of yeah! But like I said if that method is not for you then I recommend listening to some WAV's and trying to spell out what you hear.

[Captain Carol]

I just have a hard time on where to start. Especially depending on that specific character.

[gryffin]

Another possible method is to read a bunch of stories and/or obs here on the forum and pick up bits and pieces from there. You'll find a wide variety of sneeze spellings, and I at least find many of them pretty good!

[Captain Carol]

Okay. Thank you!

[SmokeyGhost]

 

I'm somewhere between "Achoo" and the more complicated stuff.  Speaking only for myself (and definitely not criticizing... creators gotta do what makes sense to them) once you throw in a couple of apostrophes and x's I completely lose the ability to figure out what it's supposed to sound like.  To me, common written sneezes sound like:

"Eshew!"

"hut-eshoo!"

"Esh!  Esh!  Esh!"

"ek-CHOO!"

You don't necessarily need to spell it out, either.  "He sneezed harshly."  "She sneezed several times."  "A wet, nasty sneeze exploded from it's nostrils."  Some readers prefer to let their own brain supply the sound.

Like anything, do what works for you.  People will figure it out.

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by SmokeyGhost