How to describe crying in writing?

By: Prof. Dr. Fazal Rehman | Last updated: February 3, 2024

How to describe crying in writing?

Here are a few tips for describing crying in writing:

1. Use sensory details:
   1. crying looks
   2. crying listening
   3. crying feels like
2. show is better than telling

Describe the outward manifestations of sobbing, such as tears running down a character’s cheeks or quivering in their voice, rather than just stating that the character is crying.

3. Use figurative language:
   3. metaphors
   4. similes etc

For example, you can say that someone’s tears are “flowing down their face like a river” when they are sad.

4. Take into account the character’s temperament:

A character’s personality may be inferred by the way they cry.

• • A character who is usually stoic, for instance, would cry silently
  • a character who is more emotional might sob aloud.

5. Incorporate dialogue:

Dialogue may make a sobbing scene come to life and assist the reader to understand the character’s emotions.

Examples of describing crying in writing

1. “He sobbed in silence as he sat on the edge of the bed with his face buried in his hands.”
2. She began to hiccup while her tears fell continuously like a steady rain.
3.  “Her tears of sorrow were soaking the tissue as she clung to it to try to stop the flow.”
4. “He failed his examination and had tears in his eyes that had swollen and turned red for hours.”
5. “After crying for several hours, he stood in the doorway with his eyes red and swollen.”
6. “As she struggled to breathe, she let out a series of hiccups, tears of sorrow still streaming down her face.”
7. “He felt lonely as he stood in the corner, trying to gather himself while silent tears silently ran down his cheeks from sorrow.”
8. “She let out a gut-wrenching wail, her Tears due to sorrow falling like rain as she collapsed to the floor.”
9. “He sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, his eyes red and swollen from crying.”
10. “His tears of sorrow left a moist trail on his skin as he wiped them away with the palm of his hand.”
11. “He sobbed quietly as he sat on the edge of the bed with his hands resting against his face.”
12. She held a tissue to her face as she tried to stop the flow of tears, which left wet spots on the material.
13. “She can’t stop crying and her body trembled as tears of sorrow fell from her eyes like a river.”
14. “He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, his Tears due to sorrow leaving a trail of moisture on his skin.”
15. “She can’t stop it and she cried so hard that her body shook, her Tears due to sorrow falling like a waterfall.”
16. “He let out a strangled sob, his shoulders shaking as he cried into his hands.”
17. “Sorrowful tears streamed down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably over her exam failure, her shoulders trembling with the force of her emotions.”
18. “She sobbed heartbreakingly, her tears of sadness falling like a shower as she sobbed.”
19.  “He sobbed into his hands with a strangled scream, his shoulders trembling.”
20. “Her Tears due to sorrow fell like a steady stream, leaving wet tracks down her cheeks as she cried in her room.”

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