Narrowed eyes indicate anger or skepticism. Incidentally, the physical meaning is "a metal casting of a stereotype of electrotype". You suggested wide-eyes = fear or surprise. NIP: Umbral Heretic (being polished for submission), Umbral Heretic II (Working title), Novels I'm following: Dead Mountain - The Ladysmiths - Sparkie - Dreams of Fire and Snow - No Night -, "All literature builds worlds, but some genres are more honest about it than others." I've actually borrowed a bit from my old dissertation advisor's mannerisms (and a bit from my mom's) when creating her, though I didn't realize that at first. Maybe literary fiction is what you get when a writer actually manages to write something without doing any of the things our freshmen English teachers told us not to do. None of those are meant to be"never do" rules - they're "watch how you handle these because they're often overused" guidelines. You're describing how things look from the POV of your character, not telling the reader what is going on "John was concerned about Jane's distress". heavy adjective. eyes were never still. Give her a prop, something to hold, and use that item to show what emotions she's going through. never looked at me. What, dragons? Find an abundance of writing tips and word lists in The Writer’s Lexicon series . The Silk Betrayal: a novel of magic and revolution in a caste-based society. They keep on going and try to make the most of life. I basically chose this for realism and to imply things about the characters' personality. For instance, if newspapers still used that sort of technology, they'd have stereotypes for phrases like President Obama, the Olympicsor financial catastrophe. MS word's spellchecker says it is but this site's spellchecker says it's fine spelled without the accent. etc. Elie Wiesel masters the use of eyes in his memoir Night where the eyes show people’s states of mind before and after traumas: dreamy to hollow, hopeful to wounded, hooligan to angry. I really want to describe "the girl at work" who is not supposed to be hot but perhaps attractive in some other way. Once in a while, though, you run into the need to describe the feeling in the point of view of your character. --Stephan Nachmanovitch, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art. If you don't know you have the power, it's the same as not having it. or better yet, "A dragon loomed at the end of the lane." etc. I often add smething like tightly wringing the hands or biting the lower lip or somehting else like that to better show worried. My December Challenge Entry - MAKE THEM SEE My revived Novel in Progress - DEATH MISTRESS "I don't know if that's the right thing to do." I'm going with "She glanced at him, her eyes tight and worried.". There are really infinite ways to convey emotion in writing. I was actually drowning in those huge, blue eyes! The author can refer to Helen's eyes as stars or sunlight, lighting the home route. Order it now in our shop for a discount. In the last of this two-part answer, author and trained fighter Carla Hoch explains the physical mechanics behind a knife fight and provides useful tips for your next project. A lazy eye drags the story down but a complex eye lifts the story up. or "A dragon sprawled at the end of the lane, gnoshing on a minivan the way a puppy might chew on a shoe.". Feet might smell like, reek of, or be redolent with the scent of: A to Y They’re important enough to describe, but we don’t want to use descriptions so tired that our readers lose interest or so outrageous that it takes readers out of the story. The way people move their lips and mouths reflects overt or hidden emotions. On hiatus. Author Corabel Shofner (upcoming novel ALMOST PARADISE) discusses the (over)use of eyes in fiction, and whether or not writers should continue to use them. This week's writing mistake writers make is worrying about what happens when you make it big. I would debate that that's telling. A stereotype was a block of type kept made up because it needed to be used so often. A flood of tears gushed down her ashen cheeks. Her shorter work has appeared or is forthcoming in Willow Review, Word Riot, Habersham Review, Hawai'i Review, Sou'wester, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, and Xavier Review. I'd agree, though I do get tired of how often people scream things shrilly in some books, and I'm in the middle of reviewing something where the writer is using "to be" verbs in lots of places where they are not the best choice ... and it makes the story feel sort of distant and flat. Published by Guardbridge Books, 2017. To avoid clichéd eye descriptions, instead … They might slip down between his legs, and then what would he do? Facial expressions are an example, where certain ones have become stock in trade. doe-eyed adjective. Eyes are marvelous organs of expression but, really, how much does it add to a character when their eyes carry the entire weight of characterization? A quirked or single raised eyebrow=skepticism or amusement. Writing that follows "rules" like that is ignoring half the tools in its box. Describe seeing deep sadness in someone's eyes? [cit]That's what I meant by "watch how you handle these". One thing [this author] does pretty often is have her characters' eyes "narrow." But having eyes on his lap is just beyond the beyond. If this thing ever gets published in any form, I should send him a copy. (Rita), Rolling your eyes is okay, I think, though it's kind of a cliché. Shofner is a wife, mother, attorney, and author. Peesh avoided his gaze, starting as her eyes fell on the flakes of leather that covered her hands... Spire City serial fiction, Season One: Infected, Season Two: Pursued, and Season Three: Unwoven--complete and available in a book-length bundles (print and electronic), along with the novelette "The Spire Singers" and the novella The Patterns of Cloth and Dreams. Visit my website, my blog, & my tweets, & link to me on Facebook. hazel noun. In any case, I agree that it wouldn't be necessary to show everything, and I think Kukana's expression of 'shooting a worried glance' works just fine. MS word's spellchecker says it is but this site's spellchecker says it's fine spelled without the accent. I had to look away. 30 Poetic Lines That Perfectly Describe Love And Heartbreak. Just writing code until I have more time. Every good story needs a nice (or not so nice) turn or two to keep it interesting. I agree that you don't want to go overboard with the showing either--except in situations where the character would really be noticing miniscule details. Worry is at least related to fear, and I wonder if wide-eyes couldn't be used to describe a look of worry as well. Hair is naturally kinked or styled that way via a perm (chemicals and heat). Write a piece of flash fiction each day of February with the February Flash Fiction Challenge, led by editor Moriah Richard. (Rita), I think when it's blatantly stupid (and descriptive), like "casting your eyes to the heavens," that makes sense. And finally, Wiesel, himself, looks in the mirror and sees the eyes of a corpse looking back at him. Peesh picked at the edge of the messenger bag as she spoke, shredding away flakes of the old leather. New Agent Alerts: Click here to find agents who are currently seeking writers. How will he ever get them back into their sockets? Here are some tips on how to describe eyes. by MarshiMaw (☾quiet☽) with 3,475 reads. If your eyes aren’t working for the story, leave them alone. (Rick). 2) Hazel. 5) Cat eyes. That's what I meant by "watch how you handle these". We grad students used to tease my advisor about the vaguely "constipated" look he'd get on his face sometimes when he was trying to think of a nice way to level some piece of constructive criticism--I so want to have a scene where Tesk thinks her aunt looks constipated, but I don't think I could write it in a way where I wouldn't collapse into giggles). Bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek discusses the inspiration behind his latest psychological thriller, The Package, and delivers expert advice for aspiring authors. This post provides hundreds of ways to describe them in creative writing and poetry. Do you need to show a character’s emotion? 3) Wild and free. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison breaks our heart with a young girl’s wish to have blue eyes. One great way to avoid that is to give your character something to do. Eyes are often not enough for emotional cues since often the same eye expresiion can be interpereted as a bunch of other emotions. Some eyes have even dropped into laps. However, that may not always be true: “Doug’s pulse sped up when the shapely girl approached him.” Did Doug make it accelerate or did it just take off on its own? If you need ways to describe these priceless appendages, you’ve come to the right place. deep-set eyes seem to be a long way back into your face. After writers’ group dispersed, the e-mails flew: I'm willing to forgive lots of things this author has eyes doing, like rolling and moving across her body, but when they fall into his lap, as they just did in this book, that's just too much. Personally, I wouldn't want to read that. Is there no other moving part on the face? Today's prompt is to write something in the absurdist style. Descriptive poetry, unlike narrative poetry, is known not necessarily for telling a story but for its deep depiction of a person, animal or inanimate object. Little flickers of the eyes can speak volumes about what people—and characters—are thinking. [/cit] This guest post is by Corabel Shofner. Now that I've been writing and critiquing, I sort of snicker at those scenes where a writer feels the need to describe the physical attributes of the pov character, for instance, in a situation where he or she would not likely be thinking about them (or to artifically make the opening scene in a story take place in a dressing room with a convenient mirror nearby). Very carefully, I'd suggest. 90 Days to Your Novel is an inspiring writing manual that will be your push, your deadline, and your spark to finally, in three short months, complete that first draft of your novel. 's perception of Helen. That isn't to say not to use them--I certainly do at times--but there's a temptation to over-use them. My current Novel in Progress- SUFFER A WITCH, Works I'm following- Sparkie and the Temporal Paradox, The Library of Kithis, The Empire of Nandesh, The Ladysmiths, Dragon Fire, Umbral Heretic II, The Boy Who Jumped Shadows. Upon my return to my writers’ group, I read a passage from my upcoming middle-grade novel, Almost Paradise, in which the main character, Ruby Clyde, asks a perfectly logical question and the Catfish rolls his eyes: “Ruby Clyde,” Catfish rolled his eyes, “sometimes I think you are as dumb as a box of rocks.”, Every member of my writers’ group stood up and howled. Most of the time, you can express emotions through internal monologue, dialogue, and actions. He'd never run across it before and it didn't conjure up any images for him. Another word for poetic. Stupid tourists! sometimes ... and conjure up images that we can all agree upon. And for goodness sake, if eyes fall into a lap please just leave them there. Tight lips=anger. Aggression, belligerence 4) Espresso. Today's prompt is to write from the perspective of a kitchen item. Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations. The difference between "there was a dragon at the end of the lane." New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah discusses the most surprising aspect of writing her newest historical fiction novel The Four Winds. Describe the eye area rather than just eye colour. Apparently, in my absence the group had engaged in many lively debates about the use and abuse of eyes in fiction. In fact, I found so many finger words that I split the information into a two-part post. 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