Streching a word?

Like if someone were to say.

"This is so good."

But they are staying on the "so" for triple the needed time.

Like. "This is soooooooooooooo good!"

Yet I am pretty sure that isn't how you do it. So how do you do it?

 

Italicize the word you want to emphasize.

 

In the book I'm reading now (published by HarperCollins, so not self-pubbed, and also a NYT bestseller), the author actually added the extra vowels to show how the character stretched the words 'girls,' so it was typed "giiiirls." Seems acceptable, although it does look a bit funny. The author used another effect when a character stretched the word 'boo' and changed the pitch and volume of her voice while saying it, so it was spelled something like boOOOooOOoo.

Good ole italics work for emphasis. Might not prompt your reader to "hear" an elongated vowel, though.

 

I've seen authors elongate it or use other ways to visually emphasize it. I might just point out that the character said it that way instead.

 

That's actually the way I would do it. (Maybe with fewer 'o's, though. "This is soooooooo good!") However, be careful not to do it more than once or twice during any story, or it will become overly noticeable and annoying.

 

I don't think you need to stretch it out at all.

"This is so good!"

"This is soooooooooooooo good!"

Not a whole lot of difference to the way I read that. People tend to emphasise the "so" when they use that phrase.

 

"This is good."

 

I kind of hope that isn't the line, "This is so good." is about four different flavors of lazy writing.

"This is so good. " The valley girl spent so much time saying so I thought she'd run out of breath.
"This is so," she paused for effect, "Good"
"This tastes better than what pizza dipped in chocolate ice-cream should taste like!"

Before stretching a word, try stretching the imagination

 

Well my example was just for the concept.

I wrote a piece in first person. I read it aloud to check for bad phrasing. I noticed when trying to read in her voice that she stressed words a lot.

Here is an example of the work

Yep, I kill people. Though they are bad, I think. I dunno, my dad does the business. I just follow orders. Well except sometimes I have to kill people that spot me but that is self defense. It is so not the same thing. Not that I have to worry about that. I'm a stealth specialist but I guess "ninja" kind of covered that. This current job is really annoying. The client didn't give any description. Not the hair color, or the body type. Nothing. Just a name and a place but the place is a hotel! There is like over a hundred rooms here.

Hundred/So were words she stressed.

 

I honestly think it reads exactly the same without the italics.

 

Yeah I wasn't arguing for italics. I was rather trying to learn a better technique to express her normal speech patterns which involve stretching words. Funny enough I didn't even realize that was going to be something she did until I was reading it aloud. lol

 

Oh I know, I get that. I just mean whatever technique you go with, I don't think you need to be stretching any of those words (see what I did there? ) It doesn't give them any more meaning or change the emphasis in any meaningful way, for me. Like anything else it's a question of style and the way individual people read it.

 

I mean. Doesn't stressing the words change how she as a person is precieved?

 

Well it makes me think she's probably in her mid-teens and rather dramatic, but the phrase "There is like over a hundred rooms here." does that for me without any emphasis.

 

I was writing her as being 22 but she is immature. lol

So you don't think her stretching the words adds anything to her style? You think I have her style there already? I guess that is not a bad thing. lol

 

Yep, I think you've nailed it and that's definitely not a bad thing.