Whether you're trying to tell a story about your day, writing in a diary, or writing a story, pinpointing emotions clearly and clearly can be a challenge. Saying you're happy doesn't really show how you "really" feel to other people. It's a good idea to try painting something so bright that the color of the flowers can't compare. In this article, we'll cover several ways to describe emotions, how to get closer to the source, and how to incorporate them into your writing. Read Step 1 below to begin explaining emotions to convey their meaning and depth.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Exploring Ways to Express Emotions
Step 1. Communicate through a physical response
Imagine you are watching someone experiencing this emotion. Is she hugging her stomach or hiding her face? Is he trying to grab your shoulder and tell you what's going on? In narrative, the most intimate way to communicate a feeling is to describe the state of the body.
- Imagine you are feeling this emotion. How is your stomach feeling? When a person experiences strong emotions, the amount of saliva in his mouth changes, his heart rate changes, and chemicals are released in his chest and stomach.
- However, be careful not to cross the line in the context of what the character is aware of. For example, "Her face is red with embarrassment," is not something the character can figure out. A good option for this would be, "Her faces feel hot when they laugh and turn around."
Step 2. Use dialogue between characters
Using conversation can make it easier for readers to understand and engage more in your story than if you simply wrote, for example, "He's scowling at how closed-off this guy is." Using dialogue can be very engaging for the reader. It keeps the story flowing, if your dialogue is good.
- When you're tempted to write something like, "He smiled at how she looked at him," try writing, "I like the way you look at me." This article goes deeper. It feels personal, honest and real.
- You can also use your mind. Characters can talk to themselves too! ""I love the way he looks at me,"" has the same power as the dialogue above, even though it's not actually conveyed verbally.
Step 3. Use subtext
Often we are not really aware of how we feel or what we are doing. We nod and smile while our eyes burn with anger or when we take a jolt of breath. Instead of ignoring this fact, try to write it down. Get your character to nod and politely give their approval while tearing a tissue. Your story also feels more real.
This can help with conflict and tension. He can also help with less severe conflicts, such as characters who are uncomfortable with emotions, don't want to open up, or wait for opportunities to express themselves
Step 4. Try to tell what the character's senses are feeling
When we feel very emotional, sometimes some senses become very sensitive. We tend to be more sensitive to our lover's signature scent, or we tend to hear every sound more easily when we're alone. You can use these elements to convey the emotions you're feeling without touching them.
Writing, "Someone was following him so he quickened his pace," can get the point across, but the sentence isn't very catchy. Instead, talk about how the character can smell the perfume of the person stalking him, how the man smells of cold beer and feels desperate, and how the clinking of keys becomes more frequent as he speeds up his pace
Step 5. Try the pathetic fallacy
Translated, this means a pathetic fallacy but actually this has absolutely nothing to do with being pathetic. This is a term used when the environment reflects an emotion in the scene. For example, when tension builds between two rivals, a window breaks (there must be a cause for this window breaking unless one of the rivals has telekinetic abilities). A student is relaxing after successfully taking a scary exam and a light breeze blows the grass. It may seem tacky, but it's fun and effective.
- Use this writing trick with care. If you keep doing it, you might even lose your enthusiasm. Also, your writing can be hard to believe.
- Try using this literary technique without touching emotions–perhaps even before introducing the reader to the characters. This technique can build the scene and let the reader understand what's going on without having to tell them directly.
Step 6. Tell a story with reference to body language
Try this: think about emotions. Try to think about the emotions that cook for a long time. Just think about the last time you felt it. When you are late in this exercise, try to pay attention to your body. What do your hands do? Your feet? Your eyebrows? How do these emotions affect your body language?
- When was the last time you walked into a room and could read the person you were looking at in just seconds? Maybe not long ago or maybe you immediately remembered so many incidents like this. Emotions don't need to be said or thought – our bodies tell them right away for us.
- Spend a few days observing the little expressions of your friends or family. It's the little things that you won't notice if you don't really pay attention. Moments like these can bring your narrative to life.
Part 2 of 3: Exploring How Emotions Are Feel
Step 1. Define the situation
Emotions are reactions, there are causes behind them. Your efforts to describe emotions will be in vain if they are caused by hormonal imbalances or suppressed memories. Try to describe the details of the situation. What part of this situation does the character respond to? What parts of the situation did he really notice?
- In cases like these, observable phenomena such as pacing or getting angry at hearing comments that are otherwise mundane can convey what the character is thinking and show their emotions. Use these things as openings to something bigger – or you can even let them speak for themselves.
- Continue to refer to visual or tactile images. It's not a matter of what the situation presents, but a matter of what the character "realizes" is. Details about the situation should only be told if the character is really aware of it.
Step 2. Use personal experience
If you've had an emotion you'd like to describe, use your experience. Where does this emotion come from? Think about what made you feel that emotion. When you feel it, you don't think, "Oh, I feel sad." You think, "What am I going to do?" You catch yourself feeling the urge to ignore things around you. You don't notice your shaking hands. Instead, you feel so unsure that you can't stop your body shaking. This experience can provide deep detail that imagination cannot provide.
- If this is the cumulative effect of a particular situation, perhaps you can try to describe the situation as you experienced it subjectively, to find out what led you to that feeling.
- If there is a moment or thing that really impressed you, use the details of the image to recreate the feeling you felt. If you've never felt this emotion before, try to estimate it in terms of other feelings associated with it or feelings that are less intense than this emotion.
Step 3. Know the "way" your character will and won't respond to
Emotions are abstract concepts that are felt and experienced by each person in a different way. One person may read a Shakespeare sonnet to convey their anxiety, while another may simply say, "I don't want to talk about it" through gritted teeth and other eyes. Everyone has their own way of saying the same thing.
So, in some situations, you don't need to describe your emotions at all. You can describe a scene, another character's face, or the next thought, which can "explain the emotion" for you. Sentences like "The world fades away, it loses color except for itself" really shows how a character feels without saying it explicitly
Step 4. Show, don't tell
In your work, you should paint a picture for the reader. They should be able to imagine an image through the words you tell them. It's not enough for you to tell them what's going on– you have to "show" them.
Suppose you are talking about the dangers of war. You don't provide dates and statistics and talk about the strategies that each side is employing. But you tell of burnt socks littering the streets, the severed heads of dolls piling up on street corners, and the screams that are heard every day. This is an image that can melt your readers
Step 5. Don't shy away from simple things
This article confused you by advising you not to express your emotions explicitly, but there are gray areas that you should be aware of. Only novels and pertinent information should be communicated in this way, but a simple statement can be a better choice for multiple descriptions than a whole paragraph. Don't be afraid to say little sometimes.
A character wakes up and thinks, ' I'm sad.' can be something that stirs the hearts of readers. This moment of emotional awareness can hit them and is conveyed through those two words. Some characters may express emotions with soliloquies, other characters through short two-word sentences, and some characters do nothing. There is no wrong way.
Part 3 of 3: Editing Your Literature
Step 1. Read through your work and discard any words that refer to emotion
Whenever you tell a character that you're feeling "sad," "happy" or "happy," throw those words away. You don't need them because they don't push your story forward or give it any momentum. These things can and should be explained in another way.
Unless the word is in the dialogue, it should be discarded. In other words, another character could ask, "Why are you so sad?" but the characters in focus shouldn't be exploring their world limited by the title of emotion. After all, "sad" is just a word. If we replace it with the word "gobbledegook", the meaning will remain the same. These words have no emotional resonance
Step 2. For the first draft, replace it with a simple action or image
A sentence as simple as "he looks back and grins" should be included in your first draft. Anything other than "he's happy" is a good choice. This writing will evolve and evolve as your story develops and for now you just need something that holds the whole story together.
This is the foundation of your story. The goal is to bring all the stories together. You'll change that later once you've outlined this essay
Step 3. For your second draft, try to write in more detail
"Why" your character looks back and smirks? What was he thinking? Did she think that the guy in the corner was cute enough? Did the man remind her of someone? What is the motivation of the emotions he feels?
Exploration of the techniques discussed above. Painting images through dialogue, subtext, body language, and the five senses can provide a 360-degree painting that readers can see and feel to understand your story. Instead of just knowing "he's happy," your readers can "really" know how he's feeling
Step 4. Avoid clichés and phrases
Neither will make your story flow well because they are too outdated. Words like "I'm so happy I want to cry" or "I feel like my world is falling apart" are overused. If your character is so happy, make him hug someone spontaneously and laugh out loud. If you are so sad, talk about what happened. One can understand the emotional impact of a major event. If you explain it, the readers will also know what impact this incident had on the people involved.
- Never end a vivid intimate description of an emotional event with a cliché. Once you've communicated your feelings, your job is done. Don't be compelled to summarize it.
- Don't get out of character. The personality you're writing about may be a cliché– so don't end the story with something predictable. After explaining how your character feels and after he hugs him spontaneously, if that fits his personality, make him say, "I'm so excited I feel like I might throw up a rainbow!" Even though this sentence is so shocking, make sure it fits her personality.
Step 5. Don't stray anywhere
Use metaphors and images that match the theme of the content and make sure (especially for the main character) the language and images you use are in line with the existing characters. For example, there could be no slang during the war against the Dutch!
If you're telling the story verbally, try to be as honest and clear as the person you're talking to. Not only do you have to keep the character in mind, but you also have to think about the character "in that specific situation." There may be external factors that affect the character's judgment, senses, and even ability to react, think, or process emotions
Step 6. When you're almost done, try to feel the emotion you wrote down
Take time to listen to music, read poetry, or read stories of authors who wrote on the same theme. When you're lost in emotion, try to re-read the story you wrote. Is it in line with how you feel? Is it proper? Does the story you write suggest that you are dishonest? If so, forget the written story and start over.
If you are confused about a certain emotion, give yourself some time. If at any time you experience these emotions, take out your notebook and record what happens to your senses, mind, and body. In this way, you too can get the truth out of this emotion. There is nothing better than the experience experienced by yourself. And your story can write itself from there
Tips
Smiles and sour faces are standard. Instead, try using more surprising (but equally descriptive) gestures, such as "eyes twinkle" or "lips twitch."
Sources & Citation
- https://romanceuniversity.org/2013/08/21/janice-hardy-presents-five-ways-to-describe-emotions-without-making-your-character-feel-too-self-aware/
- https://referenceforwriters.tumblr.com/post/64916512463/expressing-emotions-through-your-writing
- https://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/02/describing-character-reactions-and.html
