Give them a bewildered expression of perplexity. Make them shrug their shoulders and raise their hands. Ask them to place their palm on their chin as if they were pondering. Tell them to bite their lip. Cross their arms over their chest. Clench their fist. Roll their eyes. Shake their head from side to side.
These are all ways to express confusion or doubt in a conversation. In writing, you can use punctuation to indicate that you're asking questions or making statements about someone's state of mind. For example, you can use exclamation points to show that you're being excited or surprised about something, question marks to ask for explanations or descriptions, and semicolons to say that one thing is leading to another.
When you're describing a character's emotions or thoughts in detail, use present tense. When you want to show that something is happening now, or will be happening later, use the simple past tense.
So, to write descriptively, use present tense when you're describing characters' feelings, reactions, and thoughts, and use the simple past tense when you want to show what was happening or will be happening soon.
Sadness Defined Their brows will furrow and pull together. Their brows will be angled up at the inner corners. Their mouth corners will be dragged downwards. They will exhibit deep lines around their eyes and on their forehead. Overall, they will have a very sad look.
To write about someone who is sad, use the following elements to create a picture of them in your reader's mind:
1 Make them feel something - show, tell, hint at. Use details to paint a picture that makes your readers feel what you want them to feel.
2 Have a reason - give your characters a purpose for being sad. What does she/he want or need? Can he/she not get this desire fulfilled?
3 Show rather than tell - allow your characters to display their emotions instead of simply describing them. This shows that you know how people are affected by situations and events that may cause them to be sad.
4 End on a high note - don't leave your readers with an extremely depressing image. End on a happy note so that they don't feel too bad after reading.
Instilling Emotion in the Reader
To begin soothing someone, simply express what you're seeing or experiencing. Say something like, "I know you're having so much trouble with this," or "I'm sorry you're in so much pain." Also, confirm that you understand what they're saying by repeating it back to them. For example, if your friend says he's sad, tell him you understand by saying, "I hear you're very upset."
If the person is willing to talk about it, ask open-ended questions to get him/her talking about what's wrong. You can use the information you gather to help solve his/her problem. For example, if your friend tells you that he's sad because his father died, you could say, "I know how important fathers are to kids like us," and then add something like, "Maybe you could call one of your friends and talk with them about how they feel after their dad dies."
Finally, give your friend a hug. Says one source: "A hug really does say more than a thousand words."
So, how do you respond when a friend is sad? First, understand that sadness is a normal feeling. It is not bad or wrong to feel sad. In fact, everyone feels sad sometimes. The key is learning how to deal with it.
When you see your friend is sad, take time to listen.
But if you need nonverbal cues, here are a few cheap ones I use:
There's certain to be something on this list that will make you smile.
Go ahead and look in the mirror. Consider what the first individual is saying to you. Keep an eye on yourself while you reply logically, like person 2 is intended to. Make a mental note of what you observe and what your contortions imply you're thinking. Then reduce it to its essence. Use one of these sentences to express confusion or doubt.
Confusion can be expressed in several ways in the English language. Using the word how can show uncertainty or lack of understanding. This can be expressed in the following sentence: "How does he do that?" Or you can just use the word who can then be followed by the subject + verb form of the question: "Who is she?" Or you can use the word why which shows a desire for an explanation: "Why did he go?".
Doubt can be expressed in two ways in the English language. Using the word whether shows uncertainty: "Whether he likes it or not", while using the word when shows a delay in action due to uncertainty: "When will he come?".
Concern can be expressed in three ways in the English language. Using the word that shows uncertainty or doubt: "That sounds good". Using the word who shows a desire for an explanation: "Who is he?". And finally, using the word how can show confusion or doubt: "How does he do that?".
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