I Have A Question About Writing, Because You Are My Favourite Fic Writer And You Write So Well.

I have a question about writing, because you are my favourite fic writer and you write so well.

-How do I write emotions well? I’ve always struggled with that, for some reason. How do I explain how a person is feeling? Should I write loads of it or just explain it short?

Sorry if this is a weird question, genuinely struggling out here 😰😰

AHH thank you dear, but not weird at all! this is one of those highly subjective things can be really hard to nail down with simple rules in a classroom, hence difficult to learn.

i'm a bit of a fluffy writer, so i rely on Show Don't Tell to demonstrate emotions. but i am constantly reminding myself of this post to not go overboard with it. breaking down the sensory cocktail of an emotion is great for emphasis, but would get exhausting if you did it every time. it's okay to write "he was scared."

now, in this case, the "show" of an emotion would be how it physically makes you feel (warm or cold, stomach butterflies, aching, floating), how you express it externally (narrowed eyes, tense shoulders, clenched jaw, parted lips), and what it makes you do (avert eye contact, reach out, fiddle and fidget, move around a room).

examples from And They Were Streamers!

"aziraphale was touched" (meeting a fan) vs: how it makes him feel

Aziraphale’s chest blossomed with a shy, giddy warmth, just like the twinkling of nerves he felt before his first ever stream.

"crowley was agitated" vs: how he expresses it externally

Crowley sat there, breathing heavily with his eyes flickering over the chat window on his third monitor.

"aziraphale was nervous" vs: what it makes him do

Aziraphale returned his hand to hover somewhere around his waistline, where it toyed with the hem of his jacket and longed for a glass to cling to.

i refer to breath, eyes, shoulders, mouths, and fingers a lot. they're very expressive body parts and you feel a lot within them when struck with intense emotion.

if you're dead inside like me (thanks T), it can be helpful to practise mindfulness when looking for sensory inspiration. if you can't remember what it feels like to be overcome with jealousy, pay attention to all five of your senses and imagine what the character might be feeling for each of those.