One of the biggest struggles writers have with characters is portraying their emotions. It’s the issue of “show, don’t tell” again. While most writers get the hang of showing the character’s emotions rather than telling them, it can be hard to not repeat yourself. My goal for this post is not only to demonstrate how to show emotion with your words but to also help you discover ways to gather cues on emotions.
Showing Emotions
I’m going to use the emotion I feel everyone reverts to first when talking about showing an emotion: anger. Why? Because most writers list the same things for this emotion so it’s an excellent example of something getting repetitive. Before beginning, I want to point out that there are different levels of anger, but I’m going to focus on someone who’s mad enough to brawl.
The first body language cues that come to mind are: red face, balled fists, clenched jaw, and pinched eyebrows. Your characters should go through many problems throughout your story (if not, you don’t have an interesting story). How many times do you think someone will get mad? And how annoyed will readers get if each time the characters are red faced with balled fists? Well, it depends on the reader, but they will get annoyed eventually. If you don’t believe me, ask Wheel of Time fans how many times Nynaeve tugs on her braid and wait for the collective groan.
Now that you’ve exhausted the main outward reactions to anger in the first fifty pages of your book, let’s talk about other cues.
Feet
Let’s start at the very bottom: the feet. If someone’s mad, they will stand with their feet apart as if ready for a fight. They will also lean more on their toes. Maybe it’s for the added height to intimidate, or maybe it’s just part of the their fighting stance. They may even stand with one foot slightly back to add to mobility in case of a fight. Let’s also not forget the classic lesson we all learned as kids while throwing a tantrum: stop the foot. It’s a primal action to show the other person that this angry bull is going to charge unless you get out of its face.
Core
Next, let’s talk about the core or torso of the body. Generally, people square their hips and shoulders in the way of their focus. Mad people are extremely focused on their target and will square off to it. Their shoulders can be back, puffing out their chests in typical bravado. Or, they may be the type that hunches their shoulders toward their targets like they are getting ready to tackle them.
Arms And Hands
Then we have the arms and hands. Arms will typically be straight and stiff. As we already mentioned, the hands will be in fists. But there is still variations: clenching and releasing fists over and over, clenched fists thudding against the thighs, shaking fists, and so on. People can clamp their hands onto objects or furniture as well.
Face
Finally, we’re to the face. This area is an innexhasutive wealth for emotional cues so I’ll just focus on the mouth. It can be pressed into a thin line, scrunched into a snarling pucker, or the corners can be drawn down. People can bite their lip or even the inside of their cheek making their jaw eschew. They can rub their lips together or lift one corner of their mouth in disgust. The movements are endless. By themselves, they can mean many things, but paired with another body language cue the reader will know exactly what emotion the character is feeling.
Example Of Anger
I took a step back as his stature seemed to grow taller. His mouth pressed into a thin line. Like the line he had drawn. The line I just crossed.
Gathering Emotion Cues
Now you’re sitting there saying, “Great Liz, now tell me about all the other emotions.” Hard pass. I don’t want to give you a list of body language cues for you to use to exhaustion. The above listing is just to show you how many ways you can express an emotion. The thing you need to learn is how to gather these cues throughout your life so you can keep your descriptions fresh. Below are three main ways I gather my emotional descriptions.
1. Reading
I know, it’s rather obvious, but reading other fiction books will help widen your toolkit. You can borrow from other writers or even get an idea that’s related to what they did in their books.
2. Watching
Paying attention to the people around you is the best way to learn emotional cues. If someone is mad, watch how they act so you can mimic part of it. Now, if they are mad at you, then pay attention to what they’re saying rather than what they’re doing. Trust me, they tend to get even more mad when they realize you aren’t listening.
If people-watching feels uncomfortable to you, try the next best thing. Television. You can pause and rewind it to catch all the cues. The drawback is that these are actors. The emotional cues won’t be as truthful and realistic as real life. Still, it’s a good source.
3. Studying
I know as a writer we have a ton to learn all the time, but think about adding body language to your list. I’ve studied and read books on body language, and it really comes in handy in life and in writing. It trained me to be more perceptive and taught me things I didn’t know instinctually.
For instance, the way a person’s feet point is where they want to go. I know that sounds elementary, but stick with me. If you’re talking to someone and they need to leave, they will point their feet toward the door even though they’re still talking to you. Or, if there is more than one person standing in a circle of conversation, a person will point their feet toward the person they are most interested in at the moment. Obviously, this isn’t always the case, but it’s more of the rule than the exception in my experience.
Final Thoughts
Emotions are a tricky business, both in real life and in novels. It takes time and effort to master them, and then there is always a new way of expressing an emotion that you can learn. Just one word of caution: don’t over do your emotional descriptions. Once you learn all the cool new ways to express emotions, you’ll want to use them and show off. Don’t. Pick just one or two cues to use at once. No one wants to read paragraphs of description on how an angry person looks…well, except maybe someone who reads this post.
Thanks for reading!
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