Hidden Emotions: How To Tell Readers What Characters Don’t Want To Show
Posted on July 7, 2014 by Angela Ackerman
pensiveOne of the struggles that comes with writing is when a character feels vulnerable and so tries to hide their emotions as a result. Fear of emotional pain, a lack of trust in others, instinct, or protecting one’s reputation are all reasons he or she might repress what’s going on inside them. After all, people do this in real life, and so it makes sense that our characters will too. Protecting oneself from feeling exposed is as normal as it gets.
But where does that leave writers who STILL have to show these hidden emotions to the reader (and possibly other characters in the scene)?
The answer is a “TELL”– a subtle, bodily response or micro gesture that a character has little or no control over.
No matter how hard we try, our bodies are emotional mirrors, and can give our true feelings away. We can force hands to unknot, fake nonchalance, smile when we don’t mean it and lie as needed. However, to the trained eye, TELLS will leak through: a rushed voice. An off-pitch laugh. Hands that fiddle and smooth. Self-soothing touches to comfort. Sweating.
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