Need help with phrasing a beat

[BWFoster78]

My protagonist is trying to calm someone who is unjustly angry at him. I'm visuallizing a motion that he makes with his hands where he pats downward a couple of times. I know I could just go with the "he made a calming gesture" or something, but I'd like to describe the motion instead.

I'm having trouble coming up with a quick, elegant description that really conveys the motion. Right now, I've got:

He made a downward pushing motion with his hands. “Whoa."

Any better ideas to describe this in a couple of words?

 

[Ankari]

Sometimes telling is the best choice:

He made a soothing (or calming) motion with his hands. "Whoa."

 

[BWFoster78]

Sometimes telling is the best choice:

He made a soothing (or calming) motion with his hands. "Whoa."

Sometimes. But for some reason, I really want to convey this particular motion. If I can't get it figured out, I'll go with that option.

 

[Christopher Wright]

If you want to show-not-tell, then the gesture should reflect what he's feeling, instead of trying to get the other guy to feel calm. So is he alarmed at the other person's reaction? Or is he feeling defensive, or guilty that he provoked the reaction? In that case, the gesture might be more defensive. So maybe he flinches, his patting gesture looks more like he's getting ready to shield or block, and his voice can be tight, shaking, as if he's not sure which way the next few minutes are going to go.

 

[Steerpike]

The advantage of telling is that different readers may have different ideas of what a calming motion is, so you supply the characteristic of the motion and they can envision it in the way that comes most readily to mind. If you describe a motion, a reader may or may not interpret that motion as calming, though with the word "whoa" after it, and in context, the chances of a mistake seem slim.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Just a thought but if someone was angry at me the gesture I'd make would probably be to hold up my hands in mock surrender as in 'whoa - I'm not here to piss you off! Leave me out of this!' etc.

I think the gesture you're trying to get across is the one that says 'take it down a notch'. You use that on people who are upset or angry but not with you. You don't generally use that gesture on someone who's angry at you, because chances are, you'll just make things worse and end up getting punched.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Twook00]

He threw up his hands. "Woah!" He patted the air a few times. "Hit the brakes, man! Let's talk about this."

 

[BWFoster78]

He threw up his hands. "Woah!" He patted the air a few times. "Hit the brakes, man! Let's talk about this."

Not exactly what I'm looking for, but thanks for trying to help me come up with phrasing!

 

[Twook00]

Ha, I tried.

 

[The Din]

He took a deep, dramatic breath and invited her to do the same with a pair of raised eyebrows and a disarming smile.