For Writers: Show, Don’t Tell workshop: 10 Techniques to Show Emotion

Reasons to show rather than tell what a character is feeling:

• Showing emotions adds depth to a character

          (e.g.: She cried vs. She swiped at the tears. She wouldn’t give in to her grief like she’d done so many times before)

• Showing emotions draws a reader into the story

          (e.g.: I was afraid vs. I shivered. My stalker had found a way in.)

• Showing emotions allows the reader to share in the character’s experience

          (e.g.: She was angry at John vs. Joanne raised her fist to his face. “Never again,” she screamed, her infant daughter clutched against her chest. “Do you hear me, John? Never again will I sit by while you gamble away all our money.”

Technique #1: Body Language

Body language is the most common form of expressed emotion. When we feel, we typically act and react. That’s why body language experts are used by law enforcement, political analysts, criminal investigators, mental health workers, etc.

Body language is most commonly noticed in:

• Entire body (shudder)
• Eyes (movement)
• Mouth (pinched lips, bared teeth)
• Nose (scrunched)
• Brow & eyebrows (furrowed)
• Limbs (hand to chest, legs collapsing), including hands (clasped, gripping), and feet (tapping)
• Torso (pulling in of chest or gut)
• Neck & head (jerking head to the side). Tension often reveals itself in
• Headache (closing of eyes, rubbing brow)
• Stiff neck (rubbing or gently moving head side to side)
• Tense shoulders (rubbing shoulder)

Technique #2: Voice

Voices can reveal so much about a person, not just in their tone but in their sound, resonance and articulation.

Examples:
Accent – offers clues as to where a person was raised
Characteristic – raspy (smoker), hoarse (sick?), etc
Tone/pitch – raised (anger), gruff (taciturn?), honeyed (manipulation) – e.g. “she recognized the familiar timbre of his voice”
Articulation – typically relates to the level of education & career choice, can also indicate the level of comfort or fear (stuttering, backpedaling, going off on a tangent, etc.)
Speed – Talking fast to cover up or slow as in thoughtful. We tend to speak faster when we’re nervous.

Technique #3: Dialogue

Dialogue reveals many different aspects of a person;

• Where we were brought up
• How we were brought up (e.g.: “Yes, Sir” or “Yes, Ma’am”)
• Our values
• Our opinions
• Our self-image
• The truths and lies we believe
• Our emotions

Examples of dialogue might include:

• Outer dialogue:
• Light banter
• Heated argument
• Interrupting others
• Gossip
• Monologue (someone who monopolizes the conversation)
• Lecture
• Pleading
• Sign language
• Inner dialogue:
• Thoughts
• Self-reprimand (“Stop being such a scaredy-cat”)
• Talking to oneself