Conveying character emotion
So getting the wrong end of a stick for a previous question, I thought I'd make up for it by writing the answer in as much detail and as clearly as I could. So here it is. Lord_Immortals guide to roleplaying emotion and actions!
So first off, every character's decisions and emotions are what drives a roleplay, or even a good story. Without this emotion, your character becomes a robot. And robots are bad. People don't care about your characters if they can't make emotional attachments with them? That means no ones paying attention to your character if you can't properly make them understand your character's mental processes. Sure you could be that baddass Terminator. But no one actually cares about that Terminators well being until you start feeling sorry for it, and that only happens when it seems almost that the Terminator cares about someone.
General rules
We can pretty much divide our characters emotional process into three different categories. So the first of these would be physical signals. This being how the characters body reacts when experiencing emotion. Naturally the stronger the feeling, the more their body will be forced to react, and then the less control they will experience over their body. Each character is undeniably unique, or it should be at least. So as the writer, you should stick to a pattern for your characters physical response to certain stimuli. The second category emotional processes can be broken into are mental responses. This is what your character is thinking. It's their thoughts, with which you can easily convey emotion with layers of emotive language. It can be a good way of getting across rather obvious emotions, while it is often wrongly used to convey more subtle ones. Lastly character sensation being something that revolves around reactions such as the depth of breathing, the intensity of their heart rate, a feeling of light headedness washing over them. All the way up to the fight or flight response I mentioned in another post. These character sensations are quite limited in how many there are, which can cause an almost cliched effect.
Nonverbal emotion such as what's described above, is something that can't really be told. You can't write "Bob is really angry. Angrier than he's ever been before." because that just doesn't read right! That's not the best roleplay you can bring to the table, nor the best writing. Readers don't want the scene explained like that, what they really want, and what helps them connect to the character, is /working out/ how the character feels. If they know exactly what a character is thinking 100% of the time, they're just going to be bored. So you want them to feel what your character is feeling, so that they can experience it along with the character. Hence where physical signals and character sensation come into play.
Examples of cliches
References:
So first off, every character's decisions and emotions are what drives a roleplay, or even a good story. Without this emotion, your character becomes a robot. And robots are bad. People don't care about your characters if they can't make emotional attachments with them? That means no ones paying attention to your character if you can't properly make them understand your character's mental processes. Sure you could be that baddass Terminator. But no one actually cares about that Terminators well being until you start feeling sorry for it, and that only happens when it seems almost that the Terminator cares about someone.
General rules
We can pretty much divide our characters emotional process into three different categories. So the first of these would be physical signals. This being how the characters body reacts when experiencing emotion. Naturally the stronger the feeling, the more their body will be forced to react, and then the less control they will experience over their body. Each character is undeniably unique, or it should be at least. So as the writer, you should stick to a pattern for your characters physical response to certain stimuli. The second category emotional processes can be broken into are mental responses. This is what your character is thinking. It's their thoughts, with which you can easily convey emotion with layers of emotive language. It can be a good way of getting across rather obvious emotions, while it is often wrongly used to convey more subtle ones. Lastly character sensation being something that revolves around reactions such as the depth of breathing, the intensity of their heart rate, a feeling of light headedness washing over them. All the way up to the fight or flight response I mentioned in another post. These character sensations are quite limited in how many there are, which can cause an almost cliched effect.
Nonverbal emotion such as what's described above, is something that can't really be told. You can't write "Bob is really angry. Angrier than he's ever been before." because that just doesn't read right! That's not the best roleplay you can bring to the table, nor the best writing. Readers don't want the scene explained like that, what they really want, and what helps them connect to the character, is /working out/ how the character feels. If they know exactly what a character is thinking 100% of the time, they're just going to be bored. So you want them to feel what your character is feeling, so that they can experience it along with the character. Hence where physical signals and character sensation come into play.
Examples of cliches
- Bob grins ear to ear.
- Bob's eyes well up with tears, a single lone droplet coursing down his cheek.
- Bob's knees quiver at the sight.
The problem with cliches is that they're generally seen as lazy writing. It's settling on an easy phrase. Admittedly they work a lot, but that's exactly why you shouldn't go with them. You want to come up with your own original phrases. Your own unique way of writing. On top of this, these cliches don't even properly describe emotion in any depth. How happy is he really? How sad and alone is he feeling? How scared is he? For your reader to properly connect with your character and fear for their well being they need to know exactly how /much/ emotion is really being experienced. Think about your characters body. What would happen when they're feeling that way? What is a personal response to them? If we were to take excitement for example, we know that their heart would quicken, and their pulse too. If they're sat down, their legs would probably bounce. Even their voice gets faster, almost streaming words. Voice pitch can change to become higher and louder. You just need to liken the particular emotion your character is feeling, to youself. What are your own reactions to that emotion? From that you can kind of surmise the rest. Just edit what you do into something that translates into something your character would do. Don't copy your own reactions onto a character, but use them for reference. It's certainly a thing to keep in mind.
Variations of emotion
Emotions can range from very slight to overwhelming. If an emotion is easy to describe then the chances are you're just roleplaying a very generic mediocre response. Extreme emotions need to be described with very extreme words, and subtle ones with subtle words. The problem with that though, is you might think we should write our characters into jumping up and down in joy, grinning ear to ear.
I'm sorry to say but that's just too much melodrama. When was the last time you publicly jumped up and down in joy just because someone complimented you? When was the last time you actually ever jumped up and down grinning? If it was recent, you're a crazy person, go away.
Something to remember if you're trying to avoid melodrama, is that emotions are not either mild, mediocre, or extreme. There are degrees. Know exactly what degree your character is feeling, and just use tongue and cheek to roleplay them at these particular 'temperatures' of emotion. No one is going to instantly bite your head off for being too melodramatic, but you might get some words or avoidance. So be careful and play it safe.
EMOTION SWITCH
Click. Instant emotion. That's how it works right? Someone says something and immediately you're depressed? Mmmm, no. If someone broke up with you, it's a general process to go from your normal placid state, to shock, to disbelief, /then/ to grief and depression. Thoughtfully it can be done with just as few words as switching straight to depression, and it looks much more impressive and creates more roleplay believe it or not. Avoid melodrama by abbreviating certain mundane tasks. You don't need Bob depressingly wiping down the counter for hours just because his girlfriend broke up with him!
Dialogue
Yes, while word choice is important to properly get across certain emotions in certain situations, it's something that can only be used to a degree. Conveying emotion solely through thoughts or with words only gets you so far. The conversation will sound incredibly stiff, unnatural and self-conscious. There's nothing really wrong with using a lot of thought processes, but in roleplay its generally not acceptable to use thoughts in emotes etc. You realistically need an appropriate blend of dialogue and character sensations/physical signals.
General rules continued...
So roleplay your characters emotion properly, you need to need to identify the root emotion that they're feeling. This being what's dictating the other feelings your character might express. Utilize the setting of your character too! They aren't in a glass bottle with no escape. Your characters are able to interact with the world around them. If your character is angry, maybe have them throw their glass at a wall in a fit of rage? Some anger might not be appropriate in a specific setting though. What if you're in the presence of a noble? Your character needs to react and not react as per appropriate, and make sure you scale between these two based on exactly the level of emotion they're feeling and as such the degree to which they should exert themselves openly.
Using loads and loads of cues isn't great either. The other players around you, the other roleplayers, won't want some diluted experience that's just filled with your characters emotions the entire time. That's just as boring as if you were writing "Bob is angry." Try not to create big emotional monologues if you can help it.
If you're struggling not to use cliches, how about twisting them? When normally you might describe a shiver going down your characters spine, why not have the shiver swaming up their neck? Don't even call it a shiver if you want? Maybe use a simile or two and call it a sensation of tightening skin or hair raising?
Mix and match responses to similar emotions for extra ideas and combinations, and just be imaginative.
Occasionally the strongest emotional responses are those that are very primal and basal. Something that happens internally and something is difficult for the other roleplayers characters to notice.
If you need some help with particular emotions, just smack me in the face with a comment and I'll get back with adding some!
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