Your rock star might wear a leather jacket. A person you describe as athletic is someone who is slim and has very little fat on their body. Dealing with hard questions during a software developer interview, Retracting Acceptance Offer to Graduate School. Shoulders, feetthey can be ignored, but not whats communicated with eyes. Narrowed his eyes is on this list and Im sure thats been used thousands of times in manuscripts for many, many years. Clothing is an important element of self-expression, and what your character decides to wear can reflect a lot about them. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Awesome writing tips for Sight and Eyes . Its amazing how many ways you can say the same thing. Add people and Im made up! . 5 How to Describe a Character's Body. Its my pet. I respond, making her wrinkle her nose. Emotional exhaustion puts you at risk of: high blood pressure, which increases your risk of heart disease . Easily irritated and forgetful. Erika N. Chronic fatigue feels like I was run over by a cement roller right after I wake up. 70 Collections to Infuse Your Writing | WordDreams 10 Hits and Misses for 2015WordDreams Jacqui Murray. Thanks, Jacqui. However, the degree to which the emotion is expressed is going to depend on the character and the context. It makes you feel like a living, breathing zombie. Emily V. share a metaphor that explains what chronic fatigue feels like for them. Use In A Sentence: Are you feeling okay? However, a smile is an expression that is commonly faked. If you have established that a character is pretty relaxed in most situations, readers will instantly notice if they exhibit anxious body language even if you dont draw a lot of attention to it. 4 How to Describe a Character's Clothes. Go to Walmart for Gold Bond! He was tall but very thin.. with a tired sad expression on your face. Also technically you cant copywriter a phrase you didnt make up. 1. Just be sure to take notes so you don't forget the immediate sensations. These are great. Exactly! But I am learning with your post! Oh and thank you, Jacqui! Id humbly say that I feel I have made considerable improvements! some great ideas in this list Jacqui to stimulate the imagination. and it makes the story feel sort of distant and flat. Walking into a grand cathedral, being proposed to, or receiving horrible news are all situations in which a surprised expression may stay for longer than a few seconds. As she's just fainted, I think this is a bit too tired. Expressions have so much potential to show a characters true colors! I'm an artist and a professional writer from Columbia Maryland, and I'm the sole writer and owner of this blog! When writing 1st or close 3rd, you want to show the experience. It feels like getting tired really quickly but instead of recovering you fall from a cliff. Saying that a character is Japanese or Jamaican without giving other details doesnt do any more for the characters description than saying they are European or white. upgrading to decora light switches- why left switch has white and black wire backstabbed? When you're introducing a character for the first time and want the reader to create an image in their mind, use figurative language to describe the character's face instead of just stating the obvious qualities. Every time you describe a characters expression, you have an opportunity to reveal more about their personality, intentions, and complex emotionsso dont take the easy way out! Tears first pool in the eyes before they streak down a persons cheeks. How do you make superhuman strength "make sense" in a fantasy setting? adjective: sluggish, groggy. Or like you just stepped in a cow turd? Well, since you made it to this article, you probably arent like other writers. Attractive. 6 How to Describe a Character's Posture and Body Language. Its hard to think clearly and body and mind are moving in slow motion. If you do not consent to the above, please dont leave a comment. Words used to describe facial expressions - thesaurus. This word comes from the Old French altruistic and means "other people" and before that the Latin alter, which means "other." Whether its a waist thats impossibly thin or muscles like a bodybuilder on a teenager, people tend to push the boundaries of what the human body is even capable of. They will take up space and command attention with the way they move. Although you know how to describe the expressions for the 7 universal emotions, you could still benefit by observing and analysing these expressions yourself. You could describe someone who goes running as athletic. For example, they might prescribe antidepressants for depression or anxiety, and antacids for indigestion. But dont rush. Fear is another difficult emotion, because there are many different degrees and types of fear a character can feel. (Writing About Magical Curses), How to Create an Immersive Fictional World, Their eyebrows would be lowered and pulled closer together, Their eyelids would become squinted or raised (or their eyes may bulge if they are enraged), The corners of their mouth would point downwards, Their Jaw would be tense and might jut forward slightly, Vertical wrinkles may appear between their eyebrows, Wrinkles appear at the corners of their eyes, A defined wrinkle runs from the sides of their nose to the corners of their mouth, known as smile lines, The corners of their mouth move up at a diagonal, widening their mouth, Their eyebrows will lower and pulled closer together, The inner corners of their eyebrows will be angled up, The corners of their mouth will be drawn downwards, Their lips may be either drawn in tightly or pouting outwards. Learn how your comment data is processed. Im sure there are probably other phrases that I use in some of these books as well. Even the corners of his mouth seemed to fight against his normally stoic expression, betraying how he really felt.. (LogOut/ You shouldnt rely on the characters race or ethnic background alone to be the basis of your description. Jean's Writing, This is a thorough and useful list, Jacqui. Every time I prepare to write he squinted or his ferret eyes, I check this list. Thats me on a good day. In my novel I used, His eyes darted back and forth. coming to find out that the phrase is used in over 15 other novels that I found and I am sure there are more. But that doesnt even begin to discuss the brain fog that comes with it. Bay H. It makes you feel hungover all day every day. His long, lanky body and large hair made him look a bit like a big red lollipopwhich was only heightened by his tendency to blush often.. Chewing on one's lip. Other than that you could mention that most of the men around her react, glance at her when she walks etc. Or dismissive? We talk about going bald, meaning 'becoming bald': He went bald in his thirties. Symptoms are likely to be dealt with by a GP on an individual basis. A steady wake up call sets your circadian rhythms, or internal clock, helping you to feel tired at the right time in the evening. Improve Your Descriptive Writing Skills Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 2 Answers Sorted by: 0 You seem to have it covered decently well already, so you should do fine. And I mean real flaws, not fake flaws that are actually just endearing traits packaged like flaws. Thanks for your help Jaqui. Some Tips for Describing Facial Expressions, Show, Dont Tell: What it is and How to Write it, Curse Your Characters! Wasnt that a lot more fun to read? Brilliant Jacqui thank you. looked like hellpurple bags under her eyes, eyes carried a mixture of shock and barely contained anger, Huge blue eyes that gave her a startled look, black circles beneath her eyes had become bruises, Nets of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, Competitive, fixed, dead-eyed, and querulous stare of people who werent getting far enough fast enough, bedroom eyes, dark hair falling into them, the light fades from his eyes until they are dark and empty, eyes were brown in the middle and bloodshot everywhere else, eyes watched her the way a tiger watched a bunny, looked for a common theme, a thread of some sort, Thinking about my conversation with the old detective. Do they fidget? If not --or if it's not fresh in your memory --it's an easy enough experience to create. You know, Im always scratching my head and pulling at my hair trying to think of others ways to say looked. The greater scientific community disagreed with this theory, including Dr. Paul Ekman. The expressive power of human eyes makes them the perfect literary tool for character development in fiction writing. They could lash out to defend themself, run away from the perceived threat, or simply freeze in place. Really try to embody the character, and take note of the expression that comes naturally to you. Yes, quite! Thanks for the greetings, Nancy! Read more. Best wishes. looking very tired, worried, or ill. . This is probably one of the most (if not the most) important things to remember when describing a character. The more complex and interesting the character, the more likely they are to stick in a readers mind for years after they finish reading the story. Describing an attractive character isnt all that different from describing any other character. Youve probably read her nose wrinkled in disgust a million times before, but you shouldnt get comfortable with writing like everybody else. 9. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. These arent like changing the tag, he said. I will massage your . Thanks for your recent visit to my blog. 1.7 Give them Something Special. Pingback: Top 10 Posts and Most Commented for 2019 | WordDreams Wow thanks!! Writing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing. Describing an angry facial expression is fairly straightforward because it is such a strongly expressed emotion. Very useful tips . Microexpressions are tiny glimpses of the true emotion that a person feels, quickly followed by a false expression to mask that emotion. This common metaphor is used to express an idea that you can see someone's true intentions when you look into their eyes. When I read a description that catches my attention, I copy it down, using it later to remind me theres more to a characters eyes than she looked or his blue eyes. Instead of just dialogue, you can give readers more to imagine as your character shifts their weight, runs their hand through their hair, or twists the hem of their shirt. Weve all heard the same cookie-cutter descriptions for characters a million times before. The first example gives no indication of personality, but the second one uses words like sunshine and lollipop to associate the character with lively, happy things. So we asked our Mighty community to share a metaphor that explains what chronic fatigue feels like for them. Ill start out with a word of caution. Im looking for some advice. This could be a type of ceremonial outfit, a piece of magical armor, or something along those lines. Pingback: Whats Trending on WordDreams | WordDreams Hi Jacqui, I just got your last book from Amazon and I started to read it. Well, Nature has us beat. Rather than being told how to feel, readers can pick up on the characters emotions on their own. Well, isnt that thorough. Pressing one's lips together. Aquileana . Do not use the word strong to describe this kind of person. (Ive had substantial blood loss requiring transfusions, so I can say that with some certainty.) I want to describe the look someone gives another person when the former is deliberately feigning interest in a way meant to convey mockery and contempt. Most people know what it feels like to work yourself to exhaustion, but cant imagine feeling like that and not accomplishing anything more than moving from your bed to the sofa for a change of scenery. Lorraine R. Everyone, chronically ill or not, knows what its like to feel tired, or even sore after a workout, so oftentimes when you talk about your chronic fatigue, youll get responses like, Oh, I was so tired last week, too, or I know what you mean I am always fatigued on Monday mornings. But chronic fatigue is different than the average healthy persons tired. (Its also different than myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, a separate illness with its own set of symptoms). As she's just fainted, I think this is a bit too tired. Use In A Sentence: I am dead tired. Ferret-like eyes Dark eyes smoldering Lined from squinting into too many suns Eyes were dark pools of fear Flint-eyed looked like hellpurple bags under her eyes, eyes carried a mixture of shock and barely contained anger bright eyes of an optimist one eye clouded with a cataract wounded eyes tired eyes his body felt heavy Haha! Im highly impressed with your writing skills. Give the most important information, such as the eyes, face shape, scars, and other notable details or imperfections, then move on. Great post. Im not a very experienced writer, so I was wondering how exactly I could write her as weak and exhausted? All. First, she recommends doing a thorough self-care inventory to make sure you're doing everything you can do to manage fatigue on your own. 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