Emotion in characters

Do you have trouble coming up with words to describe emotion from your character? I know I do. On the blog, Writers Helping Writers, there’s a brief post on Showing Emotion: Moving Beyond The Face. The article by Angela Ackman poses the question: “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, squint, focus inward or dart. We also watch their mouth, noting lip presses, teeth flashes, frowns, smiles and pursed lips. Eyebrow lifts, the forehead crinkling and relaxing…each facial micro movement is a message, a clue to what the person is thinking and feeling. So if we focus on face-reading in real life, should we then center description on it when trying to convey our character’s emotion?”

Read on to find out.

TwiningTree

I am currently attending a three-day poetry workshop, which I am really enjoying. I’m hoping to go back and revisit a collection of poems I’ve written over the years but haven’t really done anything with them. Sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zone and try something new. Wish me luck!

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years.” To read is to voyage through time.” ~ Carl Sagan