To describe different emotions in your writing, know which feelings contrast with each other, show what an emotion does to a character instead of naming it, and look for the precise word, even a rare one, for the feeling you mean.
One of the hardest things to do in writing is to describe something that cannot really be described: emotions. People bond over feelings and understand the basics of anger, disgust, or sadness, and yet everyone experiences emotions differently. It is a challenge to express what your characters (or you yourself) feel, and even more so when you want your readers to share your characters' emotions.
To help you find the right word or phrase for the feeling you want to portray, or to flesh out the emotional range of your characters, here is some information about basic emotions, and about feelings you may have but cannot quite express.
Express different emotions
Emotions can be grouped, and they can also be contrasted: every emotion has a counterpart. Without going deep into psychology, take a look at the "wheel of emotions" developed by Robert Plutchik, a psychologist who researched emotions.
The wheel places 8 basic emotions in a circle, each one opposite its counterpart:
| Emotion | Its opposite |
|---|---|
| Joy | Sadness |
| Trust | Disgust |
| Fear | Anger |
| Surprise | Anticipation |
The wheel contrasts the best-known emotions in ways that are sometimes obvious and sometimes surprising. The contrast between joy and sadness seems obvious, but would you have thought that the opposite of fear is anger?
If you are interested in the psychology and theory behind it, read Plutchik's paper The Nature of Emotions.
Looking at the wheel of emotions from a writer's point of view helps you fine-tune the emotions you want to portray. On the one hand, it gives you a short overview of 8 basic emotions and 8 emotions that combine them, such as love, which combines joy and trust. On the other hand, it helps you contrast characters through the emotions that define them, and set up scenes and roles by giving opposite feelings to the protagonist and the antagonist, the hero and the villain.
Unlike a plain list, the wheel is an overview that is easy to remember and helps you quickly find the emotion you are looking for.
How to portray emotions in writing
Of course, you can simply state your character's emotions, but how convincing is that? You want your readers to be drawn into your story, to understand what your character feels, and to care about what is going on. You cannot achieve that by stating "He is sad."
Show, don't tell is the rule here. Can you convey the mood of a character, or even of a whole scene, by showing the emotions instead of stating them? Then do so. Describe the effects of the feeling: the thoughts it gives your character, how it changes their actions, how they see things, and how things change for them. How to add emotions to your story has more ideas for this.
Emotions you feel but can't explain
Everyone knows anger and sadness, joy and disgust, boredom and anticipation. But what about the complex feelings that are hard to explain, or that take a great many words to express?
Some of them have a single word. Most of the words below come from John Koenig's The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a project that invents words for feelings that have no name yet; clinomania and dysania are older and not from it. Here are some of the most intriguing:
- Adronitis: the frustration you feel about how long it takes to get to know someone
- Anemoia: nostalgia for a time you have never lived in or known
- Clinomania: the strong desire to stay in bed (note: not to sleep)
- Dysania: the feeling of not being able to get out of bed, even though you are rested and refreshed
- Lachesism: the desire to be struck by a disaster, such as a car crash or a natural catastrophe
- Liberosis: the desire to care less about things
- Monachopsis: the subtle feeling that you are out of place
- Rubatosis: the slightly unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat
Last but not least, Mark Forsyth brought one old term back to life in his book The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language: finifugal.
As a reader (or a passionate watcher of TV series), you know this feeling, probably without realizing it. Finifugal describes hating endings and trying to put them off, whether it is the end of a book, a series, a vacation, or even a weekend.
For more words for feelings, see 50 feelings you can portray in your writing.