Expressions

I have been enjoying reading in someone else’s world lately, looking at their creation, falling into their story, examining their characters. What a joy it is to get lost in the twists and turns, be surprised by the curves and bends that the characters take. I love good characters, passionately hate the bad ones, fall in love with the sweet ones, and mourn when someone I like dies horribly.

One of the challenges of a writer is to express emotion in a character without telling the reader too much. “His nostrils flared wide as his fists clenched.” That is probably enough to get the idea across. Or you can say, “He hissed in as much air as he could with his jaw set like stone.”

The challenge is to use as few words as possible, but describe. Well sometimes, I like to say he was mad. Sometimes I like to say she was crying, or sad, or hurt, or bitter. Sometimes I like to name it and get on because there are other things happening. I always wonder if people like it or if they would be more satisfied with the descriptors.

As I read in other worlds, with different characters and voices, I notice that all the best writers use a combination of the telling and showing methods of delivery and development. Hopefully my characters can come alive in people’s imagination and live on, fed by enough information and demonstration of emotion and action to become real.

Don’t forget to get lost in a book this weekend, and read to a happy place.