Revealing Emotion Using Show vs Tell

 

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I’vegot a really busy schedule for the next week or so, mainly due to an upcomingrelease (yaaay!) so I will apologize for the brevity of this post.

What I thought I'd do today is give you a short refresher on how to reveal emotion using show vs tell techniques.Showing emotion rather than simply telling what your character is feelingallows readers to experience characters' feelings along with them, fostering adeeper connection to your characters and so your story..

Let'slook at four techniques to help you accomplish this.

UsePhysical Descriptions:
Often,our bodies reflect our emotions. A character who is angry might clench their fists,while someone who is nervous could tap their foot incessantly. Instead ofsaying "Joan was sad," you could write, "Tears welled up inJoan's eyes as she stared at the empty room."

 

Dialogueand Voice:
Theway characters speak can reveal their emotional state. A happy character mayspeak quickly or laugh a lot, while a worried character might stutter or trailoff. Consider this example: instead of writing "Emma was worried about herexam," you could show her asking her friend, "Do you think...what ifI don't pass?"

 

InnerThoughts and Feelings:
Gettinginside a character's head can be an effective way to show their emotions.Rather than telling the reader, "Jake was angry at his boss," youmight write, "Jake replayed his boss's words over and over in his mind,each repetition fueling his simmering resentment."

 

Actionsand Reactions:
Howyour character acts and reacts can say a lot about their emotional state.Instead of stating "Lisa was excited," write, "Lisa couldn't sitstill. She kept checking the time, her heart pounding each time the minute handjumped forward."

Remember, t

hekey to showing emotion is subtlety. It's about painting a picture that allowsthe reader to infer the characters' feelings from their actions, dialogue, andinternal monologues. Practice these techniques, and you'll find your characterscoming alive with emotional depth and authenticity.

 

What do you think of the above points - do you agree with them? Canyou think of other techniques to show a character’s emotion without naming it?  Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for one of my backlist books.
And speaking of new releases :) Disarming His Heart releases on the 20th! It's the 6th book in the really fun multi-author Pink Pistol Sisterhood series but it can definitely be read as a standalone. The series follows the journey of a one-of-a-kind pistol with supposed matchmaking properties. The first book opens in 1894 and the eleventh and final one takes place in the current day. Mine takes place in 1911. Here's a bit more about it.
DISARMING HIS HEART

Asharpshooter hiding her identity. A preacher with a guilty past. Will secretsruin their shot at love?

Violet Taylor leads a double life. She performs in a traveling show as themysterious Masked Marvel, a daring and commanding sharpshooter. But in reallife, she holds back and allows others to lead the way. When an accident putsher arm in a sling, she has to scramble to protect the secret of her identityas the Masked Marvel. So she enlists the help of her identical twin sister, a“townie” dressmaker, to secretly swap places until her arm heals. But thatmeans she must also take on her sister’s role as director of a children’schurch program. There’s just one hitch. Her sister sweet on Pastor Carson, theprogram’s codirector, so Violet has to make sure not to mess anything up withhim.

Pastor Carson Davis became guardian to an orphaned nine-year-old six months agoand has been struggling to build a relationship with the boy ever since. It’sto the point where he’s begun to wonder if he’s even fit to be a pastor. Couldfinding himself a wife who’d be a proper mother figure for his foster son bethe solution?

As Violet and Carson work together on the children’s program the attractionbetween them grows. But awareness of her sister’s feelings and guilt over herdeception hold Violet back.
Little does she know that Carson is harboring secrets of his own…

ORDER LINK