Showing Hidden Emotions

Almost every story has at least one character that tends to hide their emotion. Whether they're in pain because of a dark secret from their past or they just want to be strong in front of their peers, it is important to know how to show emotion without the character showing it. Is that a contradiction? I don't think so. There are ways to show these emotions without just stating them outright. And often these emotions will come through stronger if you present them in a subtle way.

The first thing we have to realize when we are doing this is that THE READERS ARE NOT STUPID. They are going to catch the little details and the hints that we throw at them. We don't have to make everything totally obvious for them to get it. In fact, I know that when I read a book I like to look for little bits of foreshadowing so that I can try to guess what's going on in the background.

Subtle hints can often affect your readers more than if your tough male character just starts bawling. There may be a place for that, but it's not likely that he will do that, especially around other people.

Here are three tips that might help in conveying the emotion your character doesn't want to show:

     1. Give your character a specific action that shows they're trying to hide something. A small, tell-tale sign. Maybe they rub their hands against the front of their trousers. Maybe they stare at the ground or avoid eye-contact. Maybe they get up in arms when they think they're being confronted about it. Whatever it is, make them do something that they don't normally do except when they're hiding something. The reader will notice that finger-twitch or that tight jaw and come to a conclusion on their own.

I have a character that has a dark secret and a lot of baggage that he's trying to carry around without anyone knowing it. Whenever he feels like someone is seeing what he's feeling inside, he intimidates them until they back down and leave him alone. Choose something that will fit your character's personality.

     2. Write a scene from that character's point of view. This method will allow you to present how your character feels and why they feel that way. But I don't think that it's as good as showing them in their struggle to conceal emotion from the point of view of other characters (even if they don't notice it). One of the first mistakes I made in writing was thinking that in order to gain sympathy for my character I needed to show all the horrible things that happened to him and show him in agony. So I wrote a bunch of scenes from his point of view in attempt to gain sympathy for him. It made him look like a whiny, pitiful wimp! If you show, rather than tell, emotion on characters and show them trying to hide it, you will be more likely to gain sympathy from the readers.

Another tool is to write about that character's nightmares. Show them in their waking hours where they appear to be in control. Then show what they dream about. This will help to convey the emotion that they are trying to hide from themselves!

     3. Dialogue. Again, this can vary depending on your character. They might shut down and not talk at all, or they might chatter nervously without stop. But make their dialogue odd when they are trying to hide emotion. Have them speak with double-meanings, avoid questions, or snap at other people.

How your character responds to emotion is completely up to you. YOU are the writer. But not all characters are going to display their emotion outright. Everybody deals with pain and hurt differently. Try to make your character unique in how they try to conceal their feelings.

Here's an example from one of my books of a character concealing emotion:

After what seems like a long time, I say, "Andrew?"
"Hmm?" he grunts.
"Why can't you swim?"
He glances at me, scratching the back of his head. "Earl Vaska is convinced that he can use electricity to genetically modify people. He experimented on me while the idea was still new."
I wait for him to go on, then prompt, "What does that have to do with water?"
He stares straight into the distance, "He used to put me in a tank full of water with an oxygen mask on and charge the water with electricity. Every once in a while the oxygen tank would malfunction."
"That's awful!" I exclaim, kicking a pebble across the road. After a moment, I say, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," his voice is flat. "It doesn't matter."
And for a while we just watch the wind ruffle the leaves in the high trees.

So, we've got Andrew talking to his friend about some of the things he suffered during childhood. Nothing big really happens here. He doesn't burst into tears or start getting angry. But we see him breaking eye contact, and his answers go from long to short. That makes it pretty clear that he doesn't really want to talk.

I think that realistic characters are the ones that don't always display their emotions outwardly, because a lot of times we try to hide our emotion for one reason or another. This is just another tool that we can use to make our characters more real to the readers.

     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any questions, please comment below.)