Describing facial expressions

[Androxine Vortex]

I have a hard time describing other characters emotions through their body language. I don't want to always rely on someones smile to show they are happy or maybe I can but I just don't know which words to use without using the same ones over and over again. I have noticed in books that I have read where the author always uses the same combination of words to describe things and it really annoys me because I feel they should have been more creative.

 

[Rob P]

I have a list of all my characters, main, primary and secondary with all their emotional drivers. These are the emotions that are readily seen in the main. Against each emotion I have tried to put as many triggers and reactions to describe visually how their emotional drivers manifest themselves to others. Each person expresses the same emotion in a different manner so maintaining a style for that character.

It's not perfect but it helps me to visualise that character's emotional state in a scene

 

[Telcontar]

Do what actors are always being told to do - park yourself in front of a mirror and make faces at yourself for hours. Try showing every emotion you can think of - happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, confusion, lust, jealousy, etc etc etc. Note which parts of your face are most active during each one.

In addition, start studying the expressions of other people when out and about (but try not to stare too obviously). The ways in which a person shows emotion are often highly personalized, so to speak. You can mark out characters in this way.

 

[wordwalker]

You're right, expressions can start to look similar, considering how much time characters are watching for a lot of the same emotions. It's a numbers game.

So Rob may be onto something: plan out a wider variety of ways people can express things, including different peoples' favorites, so the actions themselves repeat less. (Although a lot of it is still just going to be smiles, frowns, and other likely things in everyone, so those may need their own distinguishing.)

One tool that can make that easier is the Emotion Thesaurus, two pages of gestures and sensations for each of dozens of emotions. Very handy.

 

[Ophiucha]

Well, for facial expressions in particular, consider all of the parts of a face that can move or change. Your cheeks can puff or be sucked in or blush or pale or turn 'green'. Your eyes can widen, narrow, dilate, constrict, twitch, 'dart around', look down, and somewhat euphemistically 'brighten'. Your eyebrows are very expressive, they can both be raised, a single one can be raised, they can scrunch together, etc., etc.. Your mouth can smile and frown and go tight-lipped, when you lie many people cover their mouth with their hands, you can purse your lips, bite your lips, lick your lips, smack your lips, your teeth can chatter when you're cold, some people grind their teeth, clench their teeth, cluck their tongue, lick your teeth... and those are just the things we have simple ways of expressing, you could always describe another facial expression that combines bits of each if you needed to.

Here is a body language cheat sheet; it was created for artists, but writers can use it too.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Thank you all very much I will check out those links when I have more free time later.

 

[saellys]

As already stated above, get really specific about which facial features do what. Lips and eyebrows can "quirk," for instance, and the meaning behind it can vary based on context (or even be unreadable to the observer). Don't just say someone smiled--describe what it did to their face. Some people look like they're going to crack when they smile. Some people smile with just their eyes.

Once you start getting specific, you can narrow your word choice somewhat to get a specific tone or flavor for describing reactions, without getting repetitive. Actually, one of my co-authors on The Stone Front has requested that we steer clear of quirking brows, because that was in Fifty Shades of Grey a lot.

 

[Penpilot]

I'm not 100% sure if I'm reading your question right. When you say "Other characters", do you mean characters that are not your POV characters?

If that's the case, maybe you're leaning too heavily on using body language, or in this case facial expressions, to express emotions for other characters. Remember the world is filtered through your POV character and their interpretations can help you out too. For example POV character's narrative could say something like "His face was emotionless. His body still, but I could tell he was pissed." Also when describing how someone feels, what they do, how they do it, and what they say while doing it can convey their emotions too. For example. "She wash the dishes while singing a song, shuffling a tiny dance from side to side. As she placed each dish in the drying rack, it clinked in sync with a particularly pleasant note."


And finally, remember using the same words again isn't always bad. It's about the right words for the job and there are certain phrases that do the job as required without fanfare. Sometimes being too creative can get you into trouble.

 

[Devor]

This is a site that's sometimes helpful to me. It's a writing blog that goes piece by piece through the body and talks about different ways to describe each feature. You can click on "Eyebrows," for instance, and see some of the ways that the eyebrows reflect different emotions.

The Bookshelf Muse: Introducing...The Physical Attribute Thesaurus!

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I agree, authors who use the same descriptive phrase over and over drive me nuts, too. But, conversely, sometimes there really is only one way to describe something.

I like to use not only outward indicators of emotion, but internal indicators. This, of course, only works with POV characters, but I think it works well. For example, I find it's amazing how much range of emotional response lies in the belly. From butterflies in your stomach to tremors of fear to that lancing pain you get in your chest when you've been hurt emotionally. Personally, I put a lot of tension in my belly, and it manifests in my characters in upset stomachs and belly flutters. Share the pain!

 

[Chessie]

Yes, what aelowan said! Thoughts are great indicators of mood, etc which also opens the door for variety in your descriptions. I like to give my characters mannerisms. Depending on the situation/who they are communicating with sometimes these quirks take on new life. Instead of constantly having to describe what the eyes and face are doing, try adding in props. I actually think there is an article on this site about that now.

For example, in a recent scene I wrote for a short story, a child is kidnapped while she's playing with her friends. I used body language and her attachment to her dolly in order to describe what was going on with her while she and the kidnapper were engaging in conversation. After a piece of dialogue, she would squeeze the dolly or whatever. I think it gives readers more insight into the situation and characters while giving you a break from "eyes and face".