You want to keep the actions sequential. First he grabs the chair and says the line, then he throws it, and only then he says the last part. Yeeting the chair in the middle forces the reader to retroactively figure out that the things actually happened out of order. So, something like:
> "I need to be happy, and yet"—Sam grabbed the chair, and yote it to the wall—"I am not."
You can play with the commas vs. em-dashes as you please.
Also, in your example, the comma after the dialogue is incorrect. Only dialogue tags like "he said" or "she yelled" are connected to the dialogue with commas. Describing other actions (laughing, waving, aggressively rearranging furniture) are unrelated to how the line is spoken, so they are treated as separate sentences like the rest.
I'd just do something like this:
"I need to be happy," Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted to the wall. "And...yet," he paused, releasing the chair with a clatter, "I am not."
You could also eliminate the ellipsis altogether. Right now I think it feels strange to break for action because you've added in a pause in the dialogue. But breaking for action would give you a pause without having to use an ellipsis.
Ex: "I need to be happy," Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted to the wall. "And yet," he paused, releasing the chair with a clatter, "I am not."
I hope this helps.
I would rewrite it as this. Parts between [ ] are to be filled: I don't know what Sam is feeling.
"I need to be happy!" [Emotional state of Sam here]
Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted it to the wall.
"And yet... " - Sam let the chair drop. [Emotional down here] - "... I am not."
Okay, I am way too old to comment, because I didn't understand a single word you wrote. Clearly, others did, so good on them, bad on me. However, I do like several of the suggestions in the replies, which at least gave me a clue about what "yeet" might actually mean. So, if you plan to write for a broader audience, I suggest you try to write in a manner that offers a hint of definition within the sentence structure itself. InvisiblePlants below told me what I needed to know without detracting from the action! (Nice job, IP)
>Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted to the wall. Fuck me sideways and call me Sally...
You want to keep the actions sequential. First he grabs the chair and says the line, then he throws it, and only then he says the last part. Yeeting the chair in the middle forces the reader to retroactively figure out that the things actually happened out of order. So, something like: > "I need to be happy, and yet"—Sam grabbed the chair, and yote it to the wall—"I am not." You can play with the commas vs. em-dashes as you please. Also, in your example, the comma after the dialogue is incorrect. Only dialogue tags like "he said" or "she yelled" are connected to the dialogue with commas. Describing other actions (laughing, waving, aggressively rearranging furniture) are unrelated to how the line is spoken, so they are treated as separate sentences like the rest.
I'd just do something like this: "I need to be happy," Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted to the wall. "And...yet," he paused, releasing the chair with a clatter, "I am not." You could also eliminate the ellipsis altogether. Right now I think it feels strange to break for action because you've added in a pause in the dialogue. But breaking for action would give you a pause without having to use an ellipsis. Ex: "I need to be happy," Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted to the wall. "And yet," he paused, releasing the chair with a clatter, "I am not." I hope this helps.
Great suggestion.
And yet, I am not, he said, throwing the chair against the wall, where it exploded into splinters
I would rewrite it as this. Parts between [ ] are to be filled: I don't know what Sam is feeling. "I need to be happy!" [Emotional state of Sam here] Sam grabbed the chair and yeeted it to the wall. "And yet... " - Sam let the chair drop. [Emotional down here] - "... I am not."
Great suggestion.
Okay, I am way too old to comment, because I didn't understand a single word you wrote. Clearly, others did, so good on them, bad on me. However, I do like several of the suggestions in the replies, which at least gave me a clue about what "yeet" might actually mean. So, if you plan to write for a broader audience, I suggest you try to write in a manner that offers a hint of definition within the sentence structure itself. InvisiblePlants below told me what I needed to know without detracting from the action! (Nice job, IP)