Welcome to Tuesday Tips - a weekly blog post for busy writers!
Here is a Tuesday Tip to improve your writing. Attempt to show emotion by describing what is happening in several ways. You can create your own resource list of ways to “show” emotion for future projects.
Try this:
Say it - Choose an emotion such as joy and then try to describe it in 3-4 different ways. For instance, a smile might show joy, as in “Sarah smiled.”
Say it again - Show Sarah smiling without using that word. “Sarah’s face brightened when she saw her friend.”
Say it one more time - “Her eyes twinkled as Sarah gazed at her friend, her lips curving upwards ever so slightly.”
Try it again:
Say it - “Sarah cried.”
Say it again - “Sarah’s eyes welled up and she held back a sob.”
Say it one more time - “A single teardrop crept down her cheek as Sarah fought to hide her grief.”
Now, choose another emotion and try it without my help. Here are a few suggestions:
Anger
Fear
Confusion
How did you do? Did you create some fantastic images that can be used in a future project? Save them.
File them away.
Write them down and store them where they are easily accessible.
Do you see what I did there? I told you what to do in 3 different ways. Okay, you get the picture.
Next up, "Pare it Down" - How to condense and rid your writing of unnecessary fluff.
What do you think about this #tuesdaytip? Was it helpful? Feel free to leave a comment, and as always ...