Expressions (Part 2)

On Friday, I was having multiple issues with how to show certain expressions without saying the same thing over and over again to describe it. Like "she smiled" to show she was happy. Or "he frowned" to show he was mad.

Once I've used those so many times, it becomes a word that doesn't mean much to the reader. I find that when I'm reading books, the words "he said" are nearly invisible to me.

So how do we make words visible? Well, they have to be different than what the reader is used to. By using creative ways to describe simple expressions, the reader is engaged.

Anyway, here are some other forms of nonverbal communication that may (or may not) help to describe/show your characters emotions.

Paralanguage

Despite being based on a persons tone of voice, pitch, volume and intonation, paralanguage is considered a form of nonverbal communication. Paralanguage is important for reading people's emotions, but it can also be misleading.

As you know, people can consciously change their tone of voice to convey an emotion they're not feeling.

Ever spoken patiently when you're actually really angry? What about calmly when you're really excited?

The great thing about paralanguage is that it doesn't necessarily convey the emotion your characters are actually feeling, but it can show what your characters want others to think they're feeling.

Body Language

I guess this one could have to do with all nonverbal communication. After all, you use body language for all forms of nonverbal communication. Yet I consider this one really important.

You can do a lot of showing through body language.

If Liam (supporting characters) is listening to Jaina (my MC), but is deeply hurt by her words, he may grit his teeth in angry retaliation, or clench his fists, yet only make the softest of replies. It shows the difference between what he's feeling, and what he's choosing to convey.

Eye Contact

This one is my favorite. Maybe because the simple act of a glance can say so much with the slightest movement of your eyes.

Eye contact can indicate who the leader in a situation is. In many cultures, it's respectful to not make eye contact with a superior.

Prolonged eye contact tends to make people nervous, especially if it's with someone they don't know well. It can be considered a threat or as a way to show someone that they're interested in them.

It can convey emotions you may not intend to show. Eyes can tell the truth while everything else about a character lies. I think as far as my characters go, the eyes are truly the window to the soul.

I really hope all of this helped! And if you already knew it, I hope it was a good refresher :)

Happy Monday!

--Jess

Look, Turn, Walk and Descriptive Language

First, I have to tell you something.  There are three words that are killing me right now.

1. Look
2. Turn
3. Walk

As if finding so many of them in this draft of FTA (From the Ashes) wasn't annoying enough, there aren't many synonyms for each word.  Now that I've cut out a lot of 'look's, I realize I've written 'gaze' too much instead!

Yet sometimes, there are actions that seem to be lacking in words to describe them.  Or sometimes, there are too many.

For example:

Glare is a word that describes a facial expression (or the way light reflects off a surface... but that's not the one we're worrying about.)  A glare is fairly easy for me to describe without actually saying the word:

He grits his teeth in frustration while his eyes hold my gaze with such a burning, angry intensity that...

And then the story would continue from there.  The way he is looking at 'me' is (hopefully) described so that the reader can picture his expression without being bored by an entire paragraph of descriptive language.  Or so that the reader isn't cheated by having to simply read:  He glares at me.

But what if I want to describe the way someone looks when they're concerned?  Or afraid?  Or annoyed?

It seems that I'm using the same words over and over again to describe these looks.  And it sounds something like this:

A look of fear flickers across her face...

Boring.

Describing looks too much or too little is probably one of my fatal flaws.

Do you guys have trouble with descriptive language?  What looks/actions/objects do you have trouble describing?

Have a great weekend!

--Jess

P.S.

Really though, what does someone look like when they're afraid?  This is really bugging me, now.

Repetitious Writing

Today as I was editing my story with my mom, we discovered a few interesting things. There are a few types of sentences I like to use throughout the story, some of them are alright and acceptable, but others... well, they just aren't.


The Good Repetition:
I like to use the reoccurring theme of 'light and dark'. Not light against dark, but the two of them together. This plays a big part in the story which is nice because that sort of thing is easier to weave into descriptive language. Making a lot of descriptive language foreshadowing.


The Bad Repetition:
Now, I'm pretty sure I've got a lot more 'bad' repetition than 'good', but here I go anyway. First, I like to use certain words in every paragraph. This is extremely annoying because I'm finding a useless "that" every few minutes. Here's a list of words 'that' I found at least three times in a single paragraph today:

1. "For a moment"
2. "That"
3. "Stunned"
4. "Just"
5. (and many more!)

I'm not sure if the two of us got overwhelmed this morning with my repetition, but when we hit a sentence including all four of those words we laughed for five minutes straight (I'm not even kidding). First because of how silly the writing sounded and second because the other person's laugh was too funny not to laugh at!

Are there certain words you find yourself using all the time?

And... it's Friday! So have a great weekend!

--Jess