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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Emotion Thesaurus Entry: Annoyance

July 17, 2008 by BECCA PUGLISI

When it comes to emotion, sometimes we need a brainstorming nudge. After all, each character will express their feelings differently depending on their personality, emotional range, and comfort zone. We hope this short, sample list of expressions will help you better imagine how your character might show this emotion!

If you need to go deeper, we have detailed lists of body language, visceral sensations, dialogue cues, and mental responses for 130 emotions in the 2019 expanded second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.

ANNOYANCE

• A pinched expression
• An exaggerated sigh
• Taking over a project due to impatience: Here, I’ll do it.
• Narrowing eyes
• Crossing the arms
• Tapping a foot
• A sharpening tone, using short phrases when speaking, clipped answers
• Rigid posture
• Nodding, but with a tightness to it, like one is holding back from saying something
• Throwing the hands up
• Rubbing the brow as if to ward off a headache
• Avoiding looking at the person, staring downward
• Pressing a fist to the mouth
• Fidgeting…

Win your readers’ hearts by tailoring your character’s emotional responses so they’re compelling, credible, and realistic.

If you struggle with writing emotions, you aren’t alone. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression has helped writers all over the globe, and it can help you. To find out more about this bestselling book, please visit our bookstore.

Prefer the flexibility of instant online access and greater searchability?

The Emotion Thesaurus is also at our sister site, One Stop for Writers. Visit the Emotion Thesaurus Page to view our complete list of entries.

TIP: While you’re there, check out our hyper-intelligent Character Builder that helps you create deep, memorable characters in half the time!

BECCA PUGLISI
BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. 🍪Yellow_Kookies 🍪 says

    May 23, 2020 at 8:36 am

    Could I have more of them? Thank you 🙂

  2. Cool Cat says

    May 13, 2020 at 1:05 pm

    This wasn’t a very good list. Even I could think of better ones and I am terrible at writing.

    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      May 13, 2020 at 10:56 pm

      Well that’s terrific – I’m glad you have such solid footing in this area that you don’t need help from a resource like this (which is, as the entry states, only a small sample of the actual entry). All the best, Cool Cat 🙂

      • Mayla says

        December 17, 2020 at 10:59 am

        I love how kind you were toward such a rude, disrespectful comment. Thank you <3

        • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

          December 17, 2020 at 8:26 pm

          I think some people get their power from trying to take it from others. I don’t know if this person is one of those, or just having a bad day. Either way, maybe not responding in kind will make them think a bit before typing something unkind next time.

          Have a great day, Mayla!

  3. J.Lee McKenzie says

    July 1, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Y’all should put together a book!

    http://runningfromrealityreviews.blogspot.com

    http://whisperingwiththewinds.blogspot.com

  4. Morgan Lee says

    May 2, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    Totally awesome list! Thanks! 😀

  5. Shari Green says

    December 29, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    Once again, you come to my rescue… thanks! 🙂

  6. Shari Green says

    December 29, 2010 at 8:17 pm

    Once again, you come to my rescue…. Thanks! 🙂

  7. Angela says

    July 19, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    Luc, even I’m not sure. It seems like every time I ‘think’ we’re reaching the end, I think of more emotions! My goal is to cover the strongest ones in the emotional spectrum. We will get to a point where emotions will overlap, and we’ll probably stop there.

    Pema–ACK! Sorry you’re having trouble reaching me! If you go to my blogger profile, my email contact is listed–maybe go that route, in case I made a typo before.

    Ray–bum clenchingly boring? Wow, now that’s original!

  8. Pema says

    July 19, 2008 at 11:40 am

    Angela, the e-mail address you gave me doesn’t work. Could you give me it again?

  9. Anonymous says

    July 19, 2008 at 11:06 am

    Hi

    Just found your blogg on My Writers Circle. Looks realy good. Here’s a description that I heard at work recently. Someone came back from a meeting that she described as ‘bum clenchingly boring’. I know what she mean!

    Ray

  10. Pema says

    July 19, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Thanks again, Angela. 😉 Your site is the only place that I’ve found these immensely helpful Writing Thesauruses.

  11. True says

    July 19, 2008 at 2:20 am

    Wow, you keep going. How much emotions do you have left?

    Cheers,
    Luc

  12. Angela says

    July 17, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    Thank you CR!

  13. C.R. Evers says

    July 17, 2008 at 9:59 am

    I’m always amazed at these lists! they are so awesome! :0)

Trackbacks

  1. Resources For Describing Emotion | says:
    December 4, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    […] Conveying Annoyance […]

  2. Dialogue tags and ‘show, not tell’ #WriterWednesday #AuthorToolBoxHop #AmWriting #WritingTips – D.E. Haggerty says:
    September 19, 2018 at 1:43 am

    […] The writers helping writers blog has some awesome blogs with examples for a variety of emotions. Check it […]

  3. Emotion Thesaurus Entry Collection (Samples) | WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS says:
    May 13, 2014 at 8:16 am

    […] Annoyance […]

  4. Emotion Thesaurus Entry: Impatience | WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS says:
    December 12, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    […] Annoyance and Frustration are by-products of impatience, and can exhibit similar actions when expressing this […]

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