I'm finishing up a chapter tonight (hopefully) so as a fun little side project I've been making a list of things my characters are always doing. You probably don't notice these things when you talk to someone in real life--the sighs, shrugs, and all the tiny little movements we make that reflect our moods or what we're saying. In writing, these things are usually filler, especially in scenes with a lot of dialogue. They help make the scene more real and break up the line after line of speech. However, if you're like me, you end up using the same actions again and again. And again. Sometimes this can be useful, if say, one character has a particular trait that is shown regularly. But when you're constantly bombarding the reader with these little action tags, they might learn to just glaze over them to get to the juicy dialogue. So this is my list, and I am most certainly poking fun at myself. Maybe you'll notice the same things you make your characters do.
Things My Characters are Always Doing
- Sighing
- Shrugging
- Smirking
- Rolling eyes
Frowning--This wouldn't be so bad, but having a
first person narrator realize that he’s
doing it feels a bit odd- Smiling sadly--EEK! An adverb! With an oxymoron!
Kill it! KILL IT!
- Glaring at each other/eyes narrowing--If I put Jordan and his mother in a scene, my God...I'm surprised they can see enough to walk around with all the glaring.
- Staring
- Grinning
- Taking deep breaths/exhaling slowly
- Sticking tongues out--Ok, that's pretty much just Jordan. He's a cranky little boy who likes getting his way.
- Shaking heads--Interesting note, not a lot of nodding. Apparently my characters are always disagreeing with each other.
- Groaning--In frustration! My God, get your mind out of the gutter!
- Moaning--Ok, proceed to the gutter...
- Snatching things--cell phones, wrists, and a chin once to steal a kiss, but I'm not getting rid of that. It was adorable.
I'm sure there's more, but these are my worst offenses. I hope they were good for a laugh.
