Back in September, I published Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings. As promised, I will be posting the book on my blog. So, here is the next installment, listing beats you can use to convey:
Worry
A simple “he frowned” is the easiest way to portray a troubled character. It can get overused rather fast, though. Consider instead some of these alternatives to portray worry:
Frowns
- Dissatisfaction plowed his brow.
- Up went his eyebrows.
- One heavy eyebrow slanted in strong disapproval.
- His expression slid into a frown.
- His brow furrowed.
- Her knitted eyebrows told me she did not believe me
- Her forced nod of agreement told me I had failed to convince her.
- His forehead creased with worry.
- He had a little furrow between his eyebrows as he thought.
- A deep frown crossed / creased his brow.
- He scrunched his nose.
- Her face scrunched up in worry.
- He wrinkled his nose.
- A worried expression marred her face.
- He knitted his eyebrows.
- Her furrowed brow told me she was beginning to worry.
- There was a deep-set frown on her face.
- His eyes narrowed as his eyebrows pulled together.
- His eyebrows drew together in an anguished expression.
- His eyebrows pulled together in question.
- “This is bad,” she muttered, lines in between her eyebrows.
- Her brow puckered threateningly.
- His brow furrowed as his mouth turned grim.
- His brow knitted into a frown.
- Bushy eyebrows beetled.
- She furrowed her brow, alarm bells ringing in her head.
- Her forehead creased with concern.
- He knitted his eyebrows together in puzzlement.
- Worry lined his forehead.
- A deep furrow got tangled in his brow.
- His brow furrowed as if ideas bumped headlong into his mind.
Signs of trouble
Except for a frown, you can use any of the following to depict a troubled character:
- She rocked back and forth.
- His head lowered, he watched his feet step one after the other, his hands clasped behind his back to keep from trembling.
- Slowly, he rose to his feet and proceeded to walk with hands clasped behind his back.
- He covered his eyes with a hand.
- She pressed her fingers to her lips.
- He held his finger up to his lips.
- He rubbed his chin.
- His face fell the slightest bit.
- She reclined on the sofa and pressed her fingertips against her shut eyes, like they might roll off, should she lose diligence.
- Her spine jerked her upright.
- He forced his spine upright.
This concludes Part 1 of Emotional Beats: Feelings and Emotions. Come the new year, I will continue with Part 2: Body Parts.
View all posts on the subject, or buy the book on Amazon – free on KU!
Some great info here that came at the right time as I need to improve some of my emotional expressions. Many thanks Tigerman
Yay! So glad to hear I could help 😀
My forehead has been ‘creased with concern’ for as long as I can remember, Nicholas…
Great tips, from a very handy book.
Best wishes, Pete.
Lol – same thing’s happened with me. I hear Botox helps.
Thanks, Nicholas, for sharing another of these great posts. 🙂 — Suzanne
Aw, you! Thank you, Suzanne 🙂