When I write, I do not simply want my reader to know how my characters are feeling; I want them to feel that way, too. I want them to share in the joys and pains, the triumphs and defeats.<\/p>\n
The way I do this is through a specific application of the old advice, \u201cShow, don\u2019t tell.\u201d Instead of using emotional keywords such as happy, sad, ecstatic, angry, or grumpy, I show facial expressions, attitudes, and actions.<\/p>\n
Human emotion is complex. Even if I say, \u201cBill is angry,\u201d you may not understand the depths of his anger. Each experience of anger is qualitatively different from the next and not just because the situation that evoked the anger is different \u2013 each person reacts slightly differently.<\/p>\n
Example one:<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I slept with your wife.\u201d Sam said with a mocking half-smile on his pale face.<\/p>\n
Bill had never felt angrier in his life.<\/p>\n
Example two:<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I slept with your wife,\u201d Sam said with a mocking half-smile on his pale face.<\/p>\n
Bill\u2019s fists clenched into tight balls. He wanted to pound that smirk off Sam\u2019s ugly face.<\/p>\n
Example three:<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I slept with your wife,\u201d Sam said with a mocking half-smile on his pale face.<\/p>\n
Bill drew back a fist and landed it hard on the side of Sam\u2019s nose, which gave way with a satisfying crunch.<\/p>\n
Saying \u201cBill had never felt angrier in his life,\u201d is not a lot of information, especially if the reader has just met Bill. Is he the type of person who gets angry a lot?<\/p>\n
The second two examples give us ways in which Bill might react, depending upon what kind of person he is and exactly how angry he is. Notice, however, that I did not use the word \u201cangry\u201d in either of the last two examples but I bet you understood that Bill felt angry.<\/p>\n
If you want your reader to experience your story rather than simply read it, letting them feel what the character feels is a great technique. It may take a lot of practice and false tries, so don\u2019t forget the value of critique in determining if you have been successful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I write, I do not simply want my reader to know how my characters are feeling; I want them to feel that way, too. I want them to share in the joys and pains, the triumphs and defeats. The way I do this is through a specific application of the old advice, \u201cShow, don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-for-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christineamsden.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}