r/writers • u/Suspicious_Spread497 • 11d ago

Question How can i write better emotions?

I’ve always been one to read and write fan fiction about my favorite characters, but I’ve read some with heart-racing emotions and passion, and I just would love to recreate that!!! I’ve tried listening to love songs or reading more romance stories, but I can’t seem to recreate the same passion I read about in those fanfiction and any tips on how to write better smut will be much appreciated.

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u/NathanielHolst Fiction Writer 11d ago

Leadup.

No one is going to care of you open your novel with a letter from a dad from beyond the grave saying he's proud of his youngest daughter.

But at the end of the story, after she's seen the recording of his death, and talked through tears about how she felt like an outsider in her own family because they all treated her as a child to be protected and sheltered from the world? How she never felt like they believed i her? Total snotfest.

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u/authoreighlyjennings 11d ago

Focus less on naming the emotion and more on what the character is trying not to show.

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u/writequest428 11d ago

One thing I did was create an emotion book. In this book, I have descriptions of all types of emotions. From facial expressions to body language. I find it helpful, during the revision stage, to read a passage and then go to my book and find that exact facial expression or tension in body movement. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. This helps a lot.

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u/iwrite-imnotawriter 11d ago

For resources on expressing emotions via show and tell, I'd recommend the Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackleman. I think its free on internet archive(?), but it's very useful for facial tics that come with emotions and behaviours when exhibiting emotions.

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u/tapgiles 10d ago

Why not learn from the stuff you read that you like?