Don't talk to me, I'm having a blue day

It's Monday morning here in the UK, the time many of us traditionally hate because it means we have to drag ourselves out of bed and go to work.  In the days when I had to do a day job, Mondays were always days of maximum grumpiness.

We reveal our emotions in our lives, and so should our characters.   Maybe they have jobs they hate and can't  face the thought of another Monday morning.  Or perhaps this week they're starting their dream job and they're on top of the world.

Our readers want to know how our characters feel about situations. Our story needs action, but it also needs to show how our characters react those events.  And part of making their reactions understandable is to show their emotional reactions to the events that affect them.

If you character is minor, you might want to tell the reader how they feel. But for major characters the reader wants more.  We need to be shown how they react physically, hear what they say, eavesdrop on their internal dialogue.  

Body language and their reactions to events also help us to show how the character feels.  If a character stiffens up the moment they see someone, we suspect that something bad has happened between them before. And if the newcomer starts shouting at your character the moment they see him/her, it's obvious they have a turbulent relationship and issues to resolve between them,

Use the landscape to reinforce, or contrast, with your character's emotions.  Someone who has just suffered the devastating loss of the person they loved most might feel that the bright sunny day and the laughter of children playing on the beach in their summer holidays is too much to bear.  Or a character's internal storm may be reinforced by an external storm happening around them.

Places can feel evil or threatening to our characters, and showing their internal dialogue and emotions as well as their external actions when they're faced with going into or crossing these landscapes can deepen the tension in our story.

If you're getting your characters out of bed to go to work today, let us get inside their heads and feel how their day is going. Have a happy Monday.