Do You Depend on Smiled or Laughed Too Often in Your Writing?

This post provides ninety-nine alternatives. Before studying them, though, consider the other possibilities available to you.

Rather than rely on direct phrases such as she snickered, try body language, weather, and surroundings to show the happiness of your characters:

His eyes crinkled at the corners.

The glowing appreciation on her face shone brighter than the noonday sun. (Overstatement that might function for a character in love, perhaps.)

She hummed softly, a sparkle in her eyes.

Her voice grew bubbly.

He slapped the table and doubled over with mirth.

His shoulders shook so hard he peed himself.

Wilma spewed coffee down the front of Fred’s shirt. Hmm, he thought, I didn’t realize the joke was so funny.

Harry didn’t respond but held his sides as though he had a stomachache. I studied his face. The subtle upward quirk of his mouth told me he was smothering a laugh.

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Add Laughter With Dialogue

“Ha ha.”

“Tee hee.”

“Mwah ha ha.”

“Heh heh.”

“That’s hilarious.”

“You’re a hoot.”

“I tell ya, Harry, that there gal looks like she done swallowed the entire Cheshire Cat.”

Capitalize on Clichés

Clichés have their place. Be careful, though. Not all pieces lend themselves to this type of writing:

He brought the house down.

She sent everyone into convulsions.

The audience rolled in the aisles.

The comedian’s barrel-of-laughs routine earned him a recurring gig at The Comedy Club.

Avoid acronyms such as LOL and ROFL unless you’re writing a piece that incorporates text messages or social media posts.

Invent

Instead of repeating the familiar and often mundane, invent a phrase. Idioms weren’t considered trite the first time they appeared. In each case, someone produced an imaginative phrase that appealed to the public. Over time, it joined the ranks of clichés shunned by authors and poets.

Who knows? Your turn of phrase could become as popular as He laughed all the way to the bank.

Get Down and Wordy

If your word count isn’t restricted, try making a person’s laugh a character trait in longer passages such as the following:

A smirk replaced his frown of suspicion, and then the room resounded with his distinctive laugh akin to the heavy bellowing of a donkey before it reaches full bray. He jumped out of his chair and met me halfway across the office, where we thumped each other on the back.

The noise Penny made came from deep within her throat, reminiscent of a snorting pig — apropos for her snout nose and pink complexion.

You can’t wax poetic with every sentence you write. Too much fluff and you bore readers, or an editor might brand your writing with the dreaded purple prose label.

Verbs and Phrases to Replace Laughed or Smiled

If you’ve exhausted the alternatives, or economy of words is crucial, the following list could save you multiple trips to your thesaurus(es).

B
babbled, bared one’s gums, barked, bayed, beamed, belly-laughed, bent in two, bent over, boomed, brayed, broke up, bubbled, burbled, bust a gut

C
cachinnated, cackled, cawed, cheeped, chirped, chirred, chirruped, chittered, chortled, chuckled, clucked, convulsed, cooed, cracked a smile, cracked up, crooned, crowed

D to H
dimpled, doubled up, fleered, flashed one’s teeth, forced a smile, fractured, giggled, grinned, guffawed, gurgled, hee-hawed, honked, hooted, horse-laughed, howled

J to R
jeered, jiggled, joggled, joked, joshed, juddered, leered, lost control, lost it, made merry, neighed, nickered, peeped, purred, quaked, quavered, quivered, roared, rolled in the aisles, rolled on the floor, rumbled

S
screeched, shook, showed one’s teeth, shrieked, simpered, smiled, smirked, snickered, sniggered, snorted, snuffled, split one’s sides, spluttered, squawked, squeaked, squealed

T to Y
teased, tee-heed, thundered, tittered, trilled, trumpeted, tweeted, twinkled, twittered, vibrated, warbled, whickered, whinnied, whooped, yelped, yowled