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.
ANTICIPATION
Loss of sleep
• Lack of concentration
• Becoming so focused on the upcoming event that other important things are neglected
• Fantasizing/building up the event far beyond its reality
• An inability to sit still, fidgeting
• Becoming self-critical (questioning clothing choices, event preparation), wanting everything to go perfectly
• Covering the face, then peeking
• Asking questions: “How long? When? What is it?”
• Wetting the lips
• Checking and rechecking email
• Grabbing onto another person and saying, “Tell me!”
• Leaning in toward others, showing interest
• Tingling all over
• Begging someone for details, an answer, for a look at something, etc…
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 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.
This is me in preparation for NaNoWriMo^^
All of these entries are great; one of the best writin g sources in all of the internts XD