The Emotion Thesaurus

• Offers a window into the thought process.
• Mental responses are not always rational
• An excellent way to convey to the reader how a character sees their world
• An excellent way to demonstrate voice

• The most powerful form of nonverbal communication and should be used with the most caution.
• Instinctive, raw and uncontrolled, triggering the fight-or-flight response
• Will be felt by readers at a primal level
• Relying too much on internal sensations can create melodrama, therefore a light touch is needed as a little goes a long way

1. Telling

2. Cliché emotions

3. Melodrama

4. Over-reliance on dialogues or thoughts

5. Misusing backstory to enhance reader empathy

Nonverbal communication cannot be told; it must be shown.

You don’t want the reader to only see what’s happening; you want them to feel the emotion, and to experience it along with the character.

Examples of telling:

• Mr. Paxton’s eyes were sad as he gave her the news.
• Instantly, JoAnne was angrier than she’d ever been in her life

• Cliches are a sign of lazy writing
• Create your own observations instead of falling back on clichés
• Think about your body and what happens to it when you’re feeling a certain emotion
• You may also observe people in real life or in movies/tv shows to see how they express emotion
• Some notable changes: person’s voice, speech, or overall bearing and posture
• Know your character; some may shout, while others may go completely silent

Examples of cliché emotions:

• The grin that stretches from ear to ear
• A single tear pooling in the eye before coursing down the cheek
• Quivering knees that knock together

• Melodrama leads to a sense of disbelief in the reader because, in real life, emotion isn’t always so demonstrative
• To avoid melodrama, recognize that emotions run along a continuum, from mild to extreme as emotions vary in strength
• Make sure that your character’s feelings progress realistically

• Emotion is much more effectively conveyed through a mixture of dialogue, thoughts, and body language
• Avoid over-using exclamation points to show intensity
• Check if some action is needed to breakup the dialogue
• Check if the character should be saying something instead of staying silent and just thinking about the emotion
• When expressing emotion, vary your vehicles, using both verbal and nonverbal techniques for maximum impact

• Excessive backstory slows the pace and can bore reader
• In order to avoid using too much backstory, determine which details from your character’s past are necessary to share