Using all the Ups, Downs, and Emotions From Life Experiences to Channel Into Your Characters

I’ve read so many articles on show don’t tell, plus I’ve written a few myself. I’ve been thinking about that lately. It’s difficult for even experienced, successful writers to master show don’t tell in their writing.

I’ve discovered something recently that I thought I’d pass along to you. I watched a movie about a dancer where the instructor kept telling them to pour their emotions into their dance to make it come alive. The dancer had to find a way to pour their hurt, pain, happiness into their dance to tell an emotional story with their bodies.

That got me thinking. If I use that same approach in my writing, it comes alive and conveys emotion better by leaps and bounds.

Think About Emotionally Charged Moments

We have all been through tough times throughout our lives, some more than others. If you think back on the moments of your life that stood out to you, good and bad, try to remember the emotion behind the events.

Harnessing Your Past

• if you were bullied or had a fight with a friend that shook you up, remember how you felt at the time, really think of the emotions. Assign words to describe those emotions; write them down in sentences
• think of the best moment of your life and do the same; write down a few sentences that best describe the emotions (be sure to avoid words that end in -ly)
• if you’re going through a tough time now because of the pandemic or something else entirely, capture those emotions, feelings, that despair, that anxiety by describing it on paper

Keep describing those emotions until you feel that if someone else read what you wrote, they’d feel what you’re feeling.

A great book does just that. The words jump off the pages and go right into your heart. You feel the emotions the character is feeling and it makes those made-up words become very real.

That is the point of this exercise. It’s to help you harness those tough emotions, those fantastic emotions, and properly and vividly express them on paper.

If you can practice this, you’ll find your telling becomes a thing of the past, and your showing jumps to front and center.

Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.

Happy Writing! Stay safe!

Gina