![]() Anxiety over what comes next while feeling relieved at being spared a worse fate. ![]() Most situations or events generate a mix of feelings, some of which may conflict with one another. These tip sheets are gold:Īnother challenge when it comes to showing readers what our characters feel is that emotions rarely show up alone. Writers can sometimes rely too much on expressions or gestures, so think past that steely glare or stomping foot. To avoid telling, think about the many unique ways emotion can be expressed.Their “baseline” comfort zone & preferences are tied to their personality and will guide you to emotional expressiveness that will align with who they are, meaning what they do, say, and experience will ring true to readers. Understand the character’s emotional range.It’s the key to everything, so when you have a second, read this post to find out why. ![]() Three Tips to Show Emotion Well…Hidden or Not Not only can our characters be easily be triggered and give into their flight, flight, and freeze instincts, they may also project feelings onto others, deny them, become self-destructive, act out, or a host of other things…all of which we will need to show in a way that fits the character’s personality, comfort zone, and circumstances. A teenager may be unable to answer an easy question in class after forgetting the words to a song during her school’s talent show. A man who was mugged may verbally lash out at a stranger who touches his arm to ask for directions. (Reason #63027 why writing is HARD, right?)Ī wounding event also causes emotional sensitivities to form, meaning your character may overreact when certain feelings draw near. For readers to connect, they have to be part of that emotional experience. Why? Because no matter how hard a character is trying to hide or hold back their emotions, we writers must still show them. Life is never all cherries and diamonds in fact, it’s our writerly job to make sure reality fish-slaps our characters with painful life lessons! Big or small, these psychologically difficult moments will cause them to retreat and protect themselves emotionally, believing if they do so, it will prevent them from feeling exposed and hurt in the future.Īnd while we know “shielding” behavior is psychologically sound (we do it, too) and it means our characters will try to hide it when they feel vulnerable, this causes a real problem at the keyboard end of things. Like us in the real world, characters will struggle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |