Using emotions and body language

[sonicalh9]

Every time I read a novel, I'm surprised about how rich the vocabulary of emotions and body language are when describing the situation of a character.
I wonder how authors knows all of these words (when there are hundreds of emotions and even more ways to describe a characters position).

How do you writers know how to describe the emotional and physical state of your characters?

[Lirina]

The answer is Google (at least for me) I have Asperger's and literally know nothing about body language and facial expressions yet I manage to get by (or at least hope I do)

Here are a few sites I found:

400+ Ways to Exploit Facial Expressions in Writing

How to Show (Not Tell) an Emotion–S to Z

Show, Don’t Tell: Writing 101 for Fiction and Memoir | Los Angeles Editors and...

This is my novel in case you want to have a look:

The Millionaire's Heir | Tapas

[cherrystark]

For me, it's knowing the different levels to emotions and as an author, knowing the right "degree" to the emotion. *This is important since like people, your characters won't all show emotions the same way.

For example Character A could be jealous that Character B is seemingly flirting with C. The obvious way to show this emotion from A because angry and "green with envy". But if we understand A, they could also show this emotion has sad/withdrawn, etc.

[carafox2121]

For me, it's a combination of what I've previously seen, read, or experienced that's helped me figure out how I want to describe emotions or body language. Synonyms are helpful too. Also, for body language, if I can't 100% visualize it, I try to physically do what I'm writing to see if it makes senses. Lol.

[Toastbuster]

Thesaurus is my Bible Part of the fun of writing (at least for me) is learning all kinds of spicy new words lol

[Awesomeness_Studios]

It's my lack of these kinds of skills that make me more comfortable with drawing comics . Novelists are really talented.

[sonicalh9]

Describing familiar emotions or body language is not a big problem for me.
The main struggle I have is describing feelings and body language where you don't know the exact word.

[EchoMan]

I actually tend to go a different route in my novel. I have a hard time understanding and dealing with emotions IRL, so it comes through as something my character struggles with too. I like to think it gives a unique angle to his personality.

Feel free to check out my novel if you're interested:

N3on Noir | Tapas

[Ennuiwolf]

I will admit when I write I'm more of a "show" instead of a "tell" person, meaning that I show the emotions through body language. How the characters convey it is partly due to my own experiences in real life or what I've learned from reading other books or consuming other media. I also sometimes act out the character scenes so I can get a better "feel" for my character's emotional state, and since my stories often switch POVs, I do this for all of them.

[BAFr]

It's Grammarly Premium for me. Whenever I've used the same word to describe the same expression too much, If I double click the word, it will give me a list of other words to describe the same thing. So I'm not intimidated by the lack of vocabulary and won't get scorn for using repeated words.

[TL_Nonoke]

It's a combination of reading other novels and comics and my own experience. I'm a 'show' person rather than a 'tell' person...even though I'm a novelist. GRIN.

[sonicalh9]

This could be useful if you know what kind of expression you want to give to a character.
But if you don't know the exact word for the expression (body, face or voice) you're looking for, then finding synonyms won't be useful.

That's one of the main problem I have when writing a story (mostly because I only read non-fiction).