Showing Emotion by Robin Patchen

Today’s we feature a guest post by Robin Patchen. She is a writer and blogger and has a new book out, Finding Amanda. You are invited to enjoy her article and explore all of her links given below.

How do most of us (note—I’m one of the us) show emotions in our stories? Often, we use physical responses. Here are a few:

• Sad—eyes filling with tears
• Angry—fists clenching or slamming stuff
• Worried—gut twisting
• Happy—smiling, grinning, laughing, chuckling, giggling

It works, it’s easy, and it makes the point. It’s perfect.

Maybe not.

It has been said that the purpose of fiction is to evoke an emotional reaction. So let me ask you, when you read the words, “Her eyes filled with tears,” do yours? Because mine don’t. And I don’t even know what a twisting gut feels like. Those phrases may show us how your character feels, but they…