Experiment with emotions/expressions

In the writer’s quest to show and not tell body language plays an important role. Slumped shoulders, shoulders thrown back, shrugged shoulders—they all say something without words. Facial expressions show universal emotions—body language understood around the world. They convey happiness, sadness, fear, pride, surprise, disgust, anger, sadness, and more. You might call it a universal language and one your readers will understand. For this prompt I've provided the following list to help spur your creativity. Remember to choose strong verbs to show the action.

Face emotion

• Eyes: damp, wide, close, pointing down, raised, wide and staring, cast down, tearful, staring, wide open, dilated pupils, slightly raised, steady gaze, squinting, looking away, turned away, staring at nothing, glazed over, gazing, crows-feet wrinkles
• Eyebrows: thrust together (furrowing brow), arched, one brow raised, tilted outwards with outer edges lower, wrinkled forehead
• Nose: nostrils flared, wrinkled
  
• Lips: trembling lower lip, pinched, pursed, puckered, smiling, slightly parted, pressed together, nibble lower lip, closed, pulled to the side, curled in a sneer
  
• Jaw: mouth gaping, slack jawed, tight, muscles twitching, clenched
• Chin: pulled in, jutted, chattering
  

   

  

  
  

  Today’s writing prompt: Show facial emotions

  This prompt can be for a human, animal, or even an alien lifeform. Pick your character(s) and write a short scene that shows three of these emotions. Add other details like position of the head, facial color (pale, blushing, turning purple), and gestures like tugging on hair, twirling a strand of hair, raking fingers through hair, etc. for added oomph. For bonus points, get the ears involved. Show what they hear and how they react.
  

• Anger
• Anxiety
• Boredom
• Contempt
• Desire
• Disgust
• Envy
• Fear
• Happiness
• Interest
• Pity
• Relief
• Shame
• Surprise

 

And...action!

 

Just as physical exercises stretch, strengthen, define, and build our muscles, writing exercises, when practiced regularly, stretch our imagination, strengthen our writing skills, help define our writing goals, and build our muse’s creative muscle memory. In our day-to-day routine, we physically move and while that is exercise, it is not targeted exercise. It’s the same with writing. Procrastinating when it comes to any form of exercise is commonplace, but when we actually learn to make it a habit, it pays off. With that said, how about we do a little stretching of the muse’s muscles today and practice describing a simple everyday action. 

 What is a strong verb?

If you’re unsure of what a strong verb or noun look like, here’s an example:

We’ll start with the weak verb: “He entered the room.” (While this is active, it is weak.)

If you change “entered” to “walked,” walked is a stronger verb than entered, but it can be improved. Think more specific. If he wandered into room it creates a different image than if he trudged into the room. If he hurried his steps you could use verbs like charged, stormed, dashed, or raced. They paint vivid mental images. Entered or walked only create a basic image. It offers no hint of emotion or mental condition. In fact, it doesn't provide real detail of movement to follow. Vivid is the effect you’re looking for...not basic.

Do the same with your nouns. In our above example, the “room” is quite nondescript. It’s like following the character into a blank. All we really know is that he is indoors. Is it a waiting room, an office, a living room, a parlor, bedroom, music room, sewing room, a cluttered room, colorful room, a class room? As you dig for the right words, I suggest you use a thesaurus.

Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompt

 

 Choose one (or more) of the scenarios below:

• Brushing teeth
• Stopping by the drive through for donuts for the gang at work
• Parking the car
• Changing a flat tire
• Realizing your hair is thinning
• Feeding the cat

Enjoy yourself.