Writing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm writing a bit of fiction and what i have is an uncomfortable character who is clearing his throat before speaking. Is it better to say so literally:
Louis cleared his throat. "I'm not sure."
Or, in a quest for compactness perhaps:
"Ahem, I'm not sure."
Is there a preferred method, are onomatapoeic interjections bad practice or am I overthinking this?
It honestly depends on the writing style.
Does the character clear their throat a lot? If so, I'd suggest writing out, "ahem." If not, I would go with, "[character] cleared their throat."
If your character clears their throat a lot, a good example of how to write that would be Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Professor Umbridge repeatedly clears her throat for attention and goes, "hem-hem." This incorporates her character's style as well as how often she clears her throat.
I hope this helped!
I personally would use the first option, but either would work. I think that some readers would read the dialogue, and instead of substituting ahem with a small cough or something, might just read it as ahem. Maybe every few times combine the two into:
"Ahem, " he cleared his throat, "I'm not sure. "
Just to make it clear that ahem = throat clearing.
Do you ever hear anyone saying ahem?
Might work for some characters in a period piece but not as a general rule.
