How to Show Emotional Volatility
How to Show Emotional Volatility
Facts are facts: writers throw a lot of rocks at characters. Enemies. Obstacles. Maybe a rabid zombie or two. And we aren’t nice about it, spacing out each projectile, no.…
Read more…How to Show Emotion for Non-Viewpoint Characters
How to Show Emotion for Non-Viewpoint Characters
Those of you who are familiar with me know that Angela Ackerman and I talk a lot about emotion. A LOT. That’s because we believe that clearly conveying emotion—particularly that of…
Read more…Emotion Thesaurus: Show Emotion with Authenticity
Emotion Thesaurus: Show Emotion with Authenticity
Body language, thoughts, and internal sensations can speak louder than words—if you know how to write them well. This thesaurus helps you go beyond smiles and frowns to show a…
Read more…How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions
How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions
Crafting characters that readers will connect to is every writer’s goal and dozens (hundreds?) of methods exist to achieve it: deep backstory planning, character profile sheets, questionnaires, etc. Regardless of…
Read more…Show, Don’t Tell: Write Authentic Character Reactions with The Emotion Thesaurus
Show, Don’t Tell: Write Authentic Character Reactions with The Emotion Thesaurus
Showing authentic character emotion isn’t easy, which is why so many writers turn to The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. It covers 130 emotions, providing lists of…
Read more…How to Show Your Character Is Healing from an Emotional Wound
How to Show Your Character Is Healing from an Emotional Wound
When it comes to writing a story where a character is going to work through a difficult past wound, there are two behavioral states to convey: one showing their brokenness…
Read more…Using Vocal Cues to Show Hidden Emotion
Using Vocal Cues to Show Hidden Emotion
“My Precious” By Becca Puglisi Any Tolkien fans in the house? I remember, as a teen, reading The Hobbit by the fire on a rare cold evening in Florida. It became a…
Read more…Dropping Breadcrumbs: How to Show a Character’s Emotional Wound Through Behavior
Dropping Breadcrumbs: How to Show a Character’s Emotional Wound Through Behavior
Emotional wounds are transformative and have the power to re-shape a character in many negative ways, impacting their happiness, their self-worth, and causing mistrust and disillusionment to skew their worldview.…
Read more…When Telling, Not Showing, Emotion is the Right Choice
When Telling, Not Showing, Emotion is the Right Choice
Hi everyone! A past resident writing coach is visiting us with an excerpt on a new course she’s teaching on mastering emotions: C.S. Lakin. This post is a touch longer…
Read more…Keep It Fresh: 10 Ways To Show Your Character’s Emotions
Keep It Fresh: 10 Ways To Show Your Character’s Emotions
Years ago, Becca and I grumbled about how our characters always expressed emotion the same way. My big thing? Frowning. Did my characters EVER know how to frown. They were…
Read more…Showing Character Emotion: Why Moving Beyond the Face
Showing Character Emotion: Why Moving Beyond the Face
The face is the first thing we notice in real life, and the focal point during any conversation. We connect to a person’s gaze, paying attention to how their eyes widen,…
Read more…Show, Don’t Tell: Revealing True Emotion In Dialogue
Show, Don’t Tell: Revealing True Emotion In Dialogue
Very few things pull people in like conversation. After all, when someone speaks, they are making themselves vulnerable to others. How? Because words are steeped in thoughts, beliefs and emotions.…
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