Hey everyone! I lowkey need help. How do you creative writers describe things such as adrenaline, excitement, pride and nervousness in first person?
I have a essay for school that I am allowed to do planning for and I really suck at essays especially descriptive essays so I thought I’d ask you guys for help :)
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Uhhh ever heard of show don’t tell? Basically, instead of saying “I’m excited” try something like “My heart was pounding with excitement” and instead of just saying “I’m scared” try describing what happens when you’re scared (sweaty hands, shallow breaths)
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One of my writing assignments right before I graduated highschool involved something similar, the prompt came with an example basically it depicts the emotions of gloom, sadness, depression, or despair, by the environment around the person that was describing it in the story example, and the prompt was to follow it up with you (it might’ve been a character instead of you) doing the same thing to use you/your characters description of the way they viewed the environment around them and convey the opposite view of the example prompt.
Let me tell you I had told my mum many times before that I was a writer (I have dyslexia & dysgraphia) I just didn’t write my stories down because it hurt & usually wasn’t easy to read & the spelling was off, my mum didn’t understand until she read my prompt I had to do for graduating the English/writing portion of highschool that she realized what I meant, because I didn’t really have any other option but to write it down, and I made my mum cry because she realized I really meant it when I said I was a writer I just didn’t put it down to be read because I couldn’t, my short story had absolutely terrible punctuation (but that’s not the point in this particular case) inspite of maybe one comma and a single period at the end of it I was able to show the emotions of joy, happiness, light, by how the person woke up and viewed the life around them from waking up to saying bye to their mum on the way out the door, so not very long but it painted a picture with words that even my lack of punctuation didn’t make it hard to see.
So basically similar to the previous comment by Iscraeam “show don’t tell”
I shall add remember when writing to keep in mind the phrase “a pictures worth a thousand words” think about how you feel looking at art and pictures what do you feel inside when you see those things (especially if there are abstract art pieces that speak to your core) use those inner feelings to describe it, don’t focus on what it boils down to, focus one what it took to figure out what exactly it was that made your realize you felt that way what feelings inside you made you find the words to express what you wanted to say.
Extra info that applies specifically in terms of multiple characters, don’t forget everyone has individual experiences like one person may hate sticky things or not find the word moist to seem like something icky when you say it, some people hate sweets, so when one character may describe something they love and enjoy as bubbles and honey another may describe something they love as a burning fire and crispy marshmallows.