how to describe worried face in writing
To show, or to be expressed in the face or eyes. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression This way of thinking leads to a sense of fear and unease that can be conveyed by both the persons thoughts and actions. 2022-10-02T04:00:00 | Andi Gladwin is the co-founder of Vanishig Inc., one of the largest magic companies in the world. A character who worries may be thinking about it constantly, even when she should be focusing on something else. They have places on the web where they have pictures of people experiencing different emotions (often related to psychology research). 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Peesh avoided his gaze, starting as her eyes fell on the flakes of leather that covered her hands Spire City serial fiction, Season One: Infected, Season Two: Pursued, and Season Three: Unwoven--complete and available in a book-length bundles (print and electronic), along with the novelette "The Spire Singers" and the novella The Patterns of Cloth and Dreams. You can use just about any feature of the expression for the microexpression, as long as it is indicative of the emotion by itself. The list of words for any particular part of the face are far beyond what could ever be suggested in one list, but this list is a start. Door then clock. Categories Writing, Creativity, Filmmaking, Storytelling. Characters who worry often worry about what if. Well.. Reina (the character who is looking worried in this scene) is a fairly cool and reserved customer overall, so she likely wouldn't be doing a lot of hand wringing or ******* and moaning. ? she gasps, narrowing her eyes at the drooling monster in front of her. The expression for surprise looks different, and although nervousness is often a precursor to fear, they are not the same. Main emotions are easy to describe. The construction is similar to more common sentences like "His face fell, the light dancing in his eyes." where it's implied "light dancing" happens concurrently to the main clause, so I'd avoid it altogether, but that's more a matter of taste. Using food to describe skin color can be very offensive. They dont always show their worries on the surface and may not even know whats going on themselves. Drinking too much coffee, smoking too much. My December Challenge Entry - MAKE THEM SEE In thoughts or monologues, have your character ask "What if" multiple times, since that's the most common reason to worry. For example, someone whos worried may look around the room with wide eyes, trying to see all possible dangers. This is a great list! Eyebrows drawing together. Social anxiety can be a big part of what is going on. It's a matter of context, you know? This can convey suspicion or alertness as if the person is trying to assess a situation or a person. Describing individual parts of the body, such as the face, can be trickier. Is the character amused, nervous, or happy? I've done a quick analysis of some of the common forms of pity and provided my own examples of how these for. Words to better describe your face Don't forget to include these detail in your description and ask them your partner if he forgot to do it! For me, who fidgets when and with what says something about their temperaments as well as their emotional state.There was a superb scene in Bujold's Curse of Chalion where this psychologically disturbed (and magically cursed) character was meticulously dismantling a rose during a conversation she was having with the pov character--and arranging the dismembered flower parts in an abstract pattern on the empty chair next to her. Surprise functions differently from the other universal emotions. On hiatus. Maybe a character always frowns or scrunches up their nose. For instance, if newspapers still used that sort of technology, they'd have stereotypes for phrases like President Obama, the Olympicsor financial catastrophe. . Other methods of showing worry are pacing, fidgeting, and picking up random objects. 'His mouth was a tight red knot.') One way to make eye description more interesting is to make characters' eyes stand out in relation to character traits or other features: 2. That is, no cliches, no adverbs, no "to be" verbs, no passive voice etc. Other thing such as their character traits, mannerisms, and emotions can affect how a person looks. Wrinkled. etc. Answer (1 of 9): Pity is one of the more complex emotions. When you're writing about worry, it's important to portray the character's innermost thoughts and fears. Instead of saying "she worried" you should just tell the reader what all the thoughts are and the reader will know that she is worried because they are reading her worried thoughts. He has performed all over the world at prestigious events such as in Washington, DC for President Obama's Inauguration, the world's most expensive private yacht, and more. For instance: Telling is: She was tired. For example: She stumbles back, her hands clutching the front of her delicate blouse. Don't fret - make your story great by browsing this list of striking words to describe them. It's clich - that's the only spelling given in the COD. I make my character Tesk fidget with things a fair amount (though I've had to explain to some readers why she's flipping through a book randomly in the middle of a conversation), but her aunt doesn't except she'll take off her "reading oculars" when she's exasperated or frustrated with something (another mannerism "borrowed" from some academic types I've known--when the glasses came off in the middle of a conversation, you knew you'd pushed some button). Tight lips=anger. To let readers experience your story, show rather than tell: Telling means giving a brief, factual statement. Dull. Contents hide. You feel tense and nervous, or you feel like you cant focus on anything else. I do that sometimes, though I don't want to go overboard with making them look like they're all fidgeting all the time. I am surprised that one piece of FACE can wear so many expressions, including expressionless face! Powerful Expressions, Frowns. Beginning writers will often use adjectives for specific emotions to describe faces: 'Her eyes were angry' or 'his mouth was mean'. When someone gets angry, it usually triggers their body to produce adrenaline (the fight-or-flight hormone), which can come with a host of bodily side-effects that can give the anger away. Yet another type of character could feel contempt as their dominant emotion, yet grimace in disgust at the sight. You could just - gasp - tell and not show me that they're worried and not rely on facial acrobatics that are on their own completely meaningless. Finally, you can make the characters voice tremble or quiver as an anxious thought crosses their mind, which expresses both fear and uncertainty. Describing an angry facial expression is fairly straightforward because it is such a strongly expressed emotion. And speaking of the word cliche--is it or isn't it supposed to have an accent over the e? It tightens itself into a ball right in the pit of my stomach and radiates outward. However, it feels so much more authentic to a reader if they can figure out how a character is feeling based on the descriptions you give about their facial features. 1.1 Describing Anger. Use it to help you show rather than tell your reader everything. When writing about facial expressions, most writers are content to keep it simple. Another way to show worry is squinted eyes. [/cit] We do it so unconsciously that most people don't even . Microexpressions are tiny glimpses of the true emotion that a person feels, quickly followed by a false expression to mask that emotion. They could be feeling happy and sad at the same time, or angry and disgusted. For example, a person whos worried about an upcoming exam might be pacing, biting their nails, or having difficulty concentrating. Feel free to branch out and try out your own word choices. Don't tell us Mary is sad. The haunted eyes and dark circles underneath them made the long, drawn-in face almost unrecognizable. Shaking hands, for example, can convey a sense of fear or foreboding. Bouncing or tapping feet; Pulling at one's hair; Second-guessing oneself; Unwillingness to leave a certain place (telephone, house, car) Explore related meanings. Find a simile or metaphor for each (e.g. A clenched jaw and teeth grinding are also signs of stress. BTW, in my world a "furrowed brow" can convey a lot more things than just anger. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow." ~ Ovid. This preoccupation with worry can lead to insomnia, anxiety, and depression. dancing. Otherwise, the worry may come across as unfounded or irrational. The throat area is very soft, but we can describe someone's throat as being soft. Select these words with care, opting to show instead of tell when circumstances permit. A History Of Rock Music In 500 SongsEpisode 153: "Heroes And Villains" By The Beach Boys196! Episode 156: "I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder. 1.4 Describing Fear. We're taught to hate and fear cliches as writers, and there is some sense in that, but one reason that cliches are cliches is because they do sum things up pretty tidily (hmmm summing things up tidily--cliche?) A lot of the descriptions we all reach for first--the eyes, the lips, the hands, etc.--carry the danger that they might come across as cliche. To make a particular facial expression. Maybe literary fiction is what you get when a writer actually manages to write something without doing any of the things our freshmen English teachers told us not to do. That isn't to say not to use them--I certainly do at times--but there's a temptation to over-use them. A smile can mean many things, and it can even foreshadow a characters hidden traits. Use it to show how your character's emotions affect their actions. This is because the eyes are often a telltale sign of worry, stress, or anxiety. Sometimes you need to sum things up a bit because describing every facial expression in purely physical terms wouldn't make for good reading. Books available: At An Uncertain Hour, Eltava: A Sword for All Ages, The Dweller in the Crack, Steal Away, Anthologies I'm in:Light of the Last Day(the FWO anthology), The Trouble with Time Travel, Tales from the Fluffy Bunny, It's Come to Our Attention,Unburied Treasures, Trespass, The Tale Trove, Ravensmoot, All critiques are very welcome, but I'm especially looking for feedback on Tales the Winds Tell, The Empire of Nandesh,Children of Ice - revised, Dreams of Fire and SnowYou're welcome to copy my stories if that makes the process easier, provided you don't use the copy for anything except critiquing here, But I'm not old; I've just lived a long time - the Traveller, "Personally, I wouldn't want to read that." Also, and this should go without saying by now, dont tell the readers that the character is disgustedshow them. But to be honest, I haven't read a work of fiction for a long time where there aren't some things that border on, or even are, cliches. Perhaps the person being described is in fact thoughtful or perplexed. True happiness is expressed with the eyes, so when a person smiles without showing it in their eyes, it comes across as cold and ingenuine. A lot of things go into a worried face and it would be boring to describe every detail about it, so I've been looking for a universal sign that coveys worry in a way furrowed brows and a frown conveys anger. Eyes are often not enough for emotional cues since often the same eye expresiion can be interpereted as a bunch of other emotions. [cit]That's what I meant by "watch how you handle these". Understanding the characteristics of each expression is the first step towards knowing how to properly describe them in your own writing. Blithe may describe a look of being carefree, indifferent or light-hearted. AlsoSpire City: Occupiedin book formats andon Kindle Vella. It was completely new, unaware and moreover it was strange, and powerful. Show us she's sad. They fight, flee, or freeze. But I'm having trouble coming up with a way of describing what worried eyes actually look like using only a few words. The right words to describe eyes can be tricky to find. Because adjectives that use abstract words for specific emotions don't show the reader the character's face, they tell rather than show emotion. Its also important to show how the person is dealing with her worries. So what does this mean for you? But I felt powerless and trapped. What if I fail it? But I'm having trouble coming up with a way of describing what worried eyes actually look like using only a few words. Our high school English teachers all drilled that into us. Eyebrows may be drawn together and the skin between them may be wrinkled. Stroking or rubbing an eyebrow. 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! With that said, there are a few universal signs of the expression, such as: Another familiar telltale sign of sadness is crying. Although you know how to describe the expressions for the 7 universal emotions, you could still benefit by observing and analysing these expressions yourself. Freeze - choose when your character would . While its true that the wrinkled nose is a key characteristic of the expression, so much more goes into making it complete. Incidentally, the physical meaning is "a metal casting of a stereotype of electrotype". If it's 1st person, I prefer to do something simple, like the character feels slightly ill or they're unknowingly drumming thejr fingers. Flight - choose when your character would reasonably choose to run away. The difference between "there was a dragon at the end of the lane." etc. However, its not always easy to know how to approach describing facial expressions. blazing. We help you become the best writer possible. Lets consider an example: a character has just caught their partner cheating. Andi has given keynote speeches at hundreds of . A point-of-view character might describe someone's face as gloomy. Contempt is an interesting emotion, but it is one that is often overlooked. 2015 reviews completed: 15 Theme 4: Describing the Chin. There are simple and less simple answers to these kinds of questions that will give you different results. 1.3 Describing Sadness. Sway slightly where they are standing. One way to show a characters innermost thoughts and fears is to have them keep a diary, as was done brilliantly in Bridget Joness Diary, for example. In creative writing, describing a character's face can uncover information about who they are and how they feel. Understandably, finding the right words to describe a voice can be challenging. From the dining room, the steady ticks of the Regulator clock. Wow you make such a good point, I hadn't looked at it in this way before. We hear exasperated breaths and . Narrowed eyes indicate anger or skepticism.
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