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