Just as no two fingerprints are alike, no two people act alike. People smile, laugh, and cry, but in each situation, the expressions and sounds are different. We can laugh out of joy or pain. Our smiles may be courteous or degrading. Crying is an outburst of emotion with an unlimited number of causes.
Conveniently, we write, He smiled. Is that all? What kind of smile? We might want to say something more than She cried or A tear ran down her cheek, or even worse, refer to a flood of tears. These phrases tend to be overworked, so cliché that readers don’t sense the emotions we want. Maybe your first thought is to write, His heart pounded, or It took his breath away.
Think again. Push yourself to find details that better express emotions. One of the best ways to do that is to collect examples of what bestselling authors have used for smiles, laughs, and tears.
For a few examples, Click Here .
