Writing - Eyes

If you’ve followed any of my previous blogs on writing, body movement and show don’t tell, you know by now that body language can be an excellent tool for conveying the internal emotions of your characters. Today I want to talk about eyes. Eyes are, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest tools an author has to convey emotion.

Every movement of the eyes says something about the emotions of the character. Sending a signal to your reader of what your character is feeling. Remember the old cowboy movies. In every gunfight they squared off and watched each other’s eyes. Why? Because the eyes would show an involuntary movement just seconds prior to the hands moving toward the guns.

The muscles of the irises are controlled by the nervous system. The pupils of the eyes dilate in response to emotional stimuli, especially excitement and sexual arousal. Keep that in mind if you’re admiring someone—they just may know what you’re thinking by the size of your pupils.

Eyes are more than just blue, green, grey, etcetera. Eyes speak in ways that our voices can’t. And unlike the spoken word which is often controlled by the speaker, eyes speak the truth.

And it isn’t always necessary to actually use a color. “Her eyes were the color of a deep pool of shimmering water.” Although the color is not used, the reader can use their imagination here. A deep pool of shimmering water could be green or blue bordering on black.

Eyes can set up a scene, but you have to extremely careful that the foundation is properly laid out. For instance, women’s eyes will get misty when they’re happy, sad, anxious or scared.

Accusing eyes: Your character has walked into a scene where you’re standing over the body, holding a bloody knife. You can see the accusation in his/her eyes. This perhaps might work better in a romantic setting where you walk in to find your lover embracing another man/woman.

Hungry eyes: A small waif on the street, standing outside a restaurant gazing longingly at the food.

Watchful eyes: Her eyes were watchful, searching his face for signs of betrayal.

The sultry look. A come hither look that says I’m ready, are you?

Lashes lowered over misty eyes. How could he have done this to her?

Downcast eyes. A possible signal of guilt, shame or sadness.

Fear normally causes the eyes to widen, but desire also causes the eyes to widen and the pupils to dilate. Angry eyes widen and are usually fixated on the object of their anger.

Beady squinted eyes: Could be a sign of interest as the character squints at something of interest. Normally a character with beady squinting eyes is distrusted.

Combine your character’s eye color/movement with eyebrow, mouth and nostril movements and you have an emotional picture painted with words. The color of eyes also changes with emotion. Darkening during angry or passionate moments and becoming lighter during happy or excited moments.

Remember – sometimes less is actually more. Too much description will bog down the reader and interrupt the flow of your story. Carefully placed tidbits create a mood the reader can not only see and feel, but empathize with.

Writing - Character Development - Body Language and Show Don't Tell - Part One

Readers expect a great deal more than just words on a page. They want to become a part of the story. Be able to not only see the characters and the scenery, but also feel the love, hate, joy and emotional tension of every scene. Every character has a specific physical look, but they also have internal mechanisms that affect their physical appearance. For Part 1 we're going to take a look at Anger and the physical attributes that a character might express that will clue in the reader to the emotional status of the character. In other words, we're going to show the body language related to anger.

The word Anger is often used to describe a variety of emotions - resentment, wrath, rage, fury, passion, indignation, displeasure, vexation. Most of these are associated with a strong feeling of extreme displeasure accompanied by a desire to punish the object of your displeasure. Anger can be passive or aggressive. Today I'm going to focus on facial expression of anger.

Facial Expressions of Anger:

The face is a perfect indicator of human moods and emotions. And a perfect writing tool to emphasize the emotional turmoil or mood of your characters. Let's break it down.

Anger signs:

Eyebrows - Lowered eyebrows, pulled together to form wrinkles in the skin of the forehead

Eyelids - lower and upper eyelids tighten as brows knit together. Intense anger may cause the upper eyelids to raise

Eyes - eyes wide with fixed gaze or stare; squinted - a light tick at the corner of an eye usually following the tightening of the jaw muscles

Mouth - flattened or clenched; teeth bared

Jaw - tightened or jutting

Face color - red

Also keep in mind there are various degrees of anger. Your character may go from minor frustration to a slow boil, and then an all out fit of rage. Anger can also be evoked by other emotions such as fear, emotional pain and grief. Many times anger is expressed through words either screamed at the source of the anger, or soft-pitched words that are dangerous in their undertone.

Anger can be expressed and shown in many ways. It can be hot and explosive, or slow and seething. Anger can also be cold. A stiff and rigid back, a cold shoulder or soft words spoken in an icy manner. Ragged shallow breathing. Rapid heart beat. Anger can be shown through written passages, or heated dialogue.

So with this in mind, let's develop our character and his/her characteristic of anger. For the purpose of this demonstration I've chosen "Joe" a retired police officer now private investigator. Knowing this, we know that Joe most likely has dealt with angry people throughout his career and is an expert in recognizing the signs of anger, as well as an expert hopefully in controlling his own anger.

Example:

Marie handed Joe the current readout on Cosgrove. The report wasn't good, but she knew Joe would take it in stride. After all he wasn't a hotheaded teenager prone to fits of rage. A slight tremor of fear started in her stomach as his lips tightened and a dull red flush started at the base of his neck. She took a step backwards as the trembling hands holding the report slowly ripped it into tiny pieces.

Okay, now the scene above shows that Joe is getting angry. What appears to be a slow seething anger. We have the tightening of the lips and the dull red flush, and the slow ripping of the report. We then have Marie stepping backwards away from him. Of course, Marie stepping backwards could also be a sign that Joe at times has more of an explosive personality.

I personally see Joe as the slow, seething, soft icy word type.

Now you've developed your character's reactions to anger. You can change them throughout the story, however, you will need a clear explanation for you readers as to why his reactions change.


Check back tomorrow as we explore other emotions and body language.