Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Character Reaction Glossary

And here it is folks, the great glossary of character reactions. There are 88. And guess what? It's just the tip of the iceberg. Doing this was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy. And good luck with avoiding your crutches! Oh, and if you think of any I missed, just let me know.

beamed
blew out a breath
blinked
blushed
brushed (as in hands through hair)
chuckled
clenched (jaw/fists)
cocked (head)
complained
crossed (arms)
doubled back
exhaled
eyebrow tilt
eye-rolled
eyes widened
faltered
fidgeted
flushed
focused
folded (arms)
froze
gasped
gazed
giggled
glanced
glared
glowered
grinned
gritted (teeth)
groaned
grumbled
guffawed
head tilt
heaved a sigh
hesitated
huffed
inhaled
jaw dropped
laughed
leered
lip biting
locks (eyes on)
looked
managed
moaned
mocked
mumbled
muttered
narrowed
nodded
paled
pursed (lips)
ran (hand through hair)
retorted
scoffed
scowled
scrunched (nose)
shifts (gaze, weight)
shivered
shook (head)
shrugged
shuddered
sighed
skates
smiled
smirked
sneered
snicker
snorted
squawked
squeaked
squealed
squinted
stared
started
stepped (back/forward/sideways/closer)
stomped
swallowed
tapped (fingers on table, etc)
tapped (foot/toe)
took in
trembled
turned
ventured
whined
whirled
whispered
wrinkled (forehead/nose)


***originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there.***

2 comments:

  1. There's a writing book "Building Believable Characters" that is filled with dozens more examples, and most of them are strong verbs.

    Then it has chapters for personality types and facial expressions, occupations, last names...

    I paid $7 for my copy and it's paid for itself a dozen times over.

    ReplyDelete

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