CHARACTER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS (WRITING REFERENCE)

CHARACTER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS (WRITING REFERENCE)

EYES/BROWS

his eyes widened

her eyes went round

her eyelids drooped

his eyes narrowed

his eyes lit up

his eyes darted

he squinted

she blinked

her eyes twinkled

his eyes gleamed

her eyes sparkled

his eyes flashed

his eyes glinted

his eyes burned with…

her eyes blazed with…

her eyes sparked with…

her eyes flickered with…

_____ glowed in his eyes

the corners of his eyes crinkled

she rolled her eyes

he looked heavenward

she glanced up to the ceiling

she winked

tears filled her eyes

his eyes welled up

her eyes swam with tears

his eyes flooded with tears

her eyes were wet

his eyes glistened

tears shimmered in her eyes

tears shone in his eyes

her eyes were glossy

he was fighting back tears

tears ran down her cheeks

his eyes closed

she squeezed her eyes shut

he shut his eyes

his lashes fluttered

she batted her lashes

his brows knitted

her forehead creased

his forehead furrowed

her forehead puckered

a line appeared between her brows

his brows drew together

her brows snapped together

his eyebrows rose

she raised a brow

he lifted an eyebrow

his eyebrows waggled

she gave him a once-over

he sized her up

her eyes bored into him

she took in the sight of…

he glared

she peered

he gazed

she glanced

he stared

she scrutinized

he studied

she gaped

he observed

she surveyed

he gawked

he leered

his pupils (were) dilated

her pupils were huge

his pupils flared

NOSE

her nose crinkled

his nose wrinkled

she sneered

his nostrils flared

she stuck her nose in the air

he sniffed

she sniffled

MOUTH

she smiled

he smirked

she grinned

he simpered

she beamed

her mouth curved into a smile

the corners of his mouth turned up

the corner of her mouth quirked up

a corner of his mouth lifted

his mouth twitched

he gave a half-smile

she gave a lopsided grin

his mouth twisted

he plastered a smile on his face

she forced a smile

he faked a smile

her smile faded

his smile slipped

he pursed his lips

she pouted

his mouth snapped shut

her mouth set in a hard line

he pressed his lips together

she bit her lip

he drew his lower lip between his teeth

she nibbled on her bottom lip

he chewed on his bottom lip

his jaw set

her jaw clenched

his jaw tightened

a muscle in her jaw twitched

he ground his jaw

he snarled/his lips drew back in a snarl

her mouth fell open

his jaw dropped

her jaw went slack

he gritted his teeth

she gnashed her teeth

her lower lip trembled

his lower lip quivered

SKIN

she paled

he blanched

she went white

the color drained out of his face

his face reddened

her cheeks turned pink

his face flushed

she blushed

he turned red

she turned scarlet

he turned crimson

a flush crept up her face

WHOLE FACE, ETC.

he screwed up his face

she scrunched up her face

he grimaced

she winced

she gave him a dirty look

he frowned

she scowled

he glowered

her whole face lit up

she brightened

his face went blank

her face contorted

his face twisted

her expression closed up

his expression dulled

her expression hardened

she went poker-faced

a vein popped out in his neck

awe transformed his face

fear crossed her face

sadness clouded his features

terror overtook his face

recognition dawned on her face

SOURCE

Do you ever think you'll stop drawing fanart? No offense it just seems like the kind of thing you're supposed to grow out of. I'm just curious what your plans/goals are since it isn't exactly an art form that people take seriously.

Ah, fanart. Also known as the art that girls make.

Sad, immature girls no one takes seriously. Girls who are taught that it’s shameful to be excited or passionate about anything, that it’s pathetic to gush about what attracts them, that it’s wrong to be a geek, that they should feel embarrassed about having a crush, that they’re not allowed to gaze or stare or wish or desire. Girls who need to grow out of it.

That’s the art you mean, right?

Because in my experience, when grown men make it, nobody calls it fanart. They just call it art. And everyone takes it very seriously.

@the-wip-project Day 30

Did your main characters change as you wrote them? Was that the plan or did they surprise you?

Oddly enough maybe, my wip's mains have changed little from I had planned over a year ago (yes, it's been ongoing for that long and it's getting near the 200k mark slowly but surely). The plot is all about growing and changing from experiences, meetings, explorations of one's past. So change has always been on the agenda, as far as the main characters are concerned. Some are meant to change more than others.

I can't say the same thing about my secondary characters though. There are quite a few secondary characters who play a crucial role in the plot, and although they will be affected by the main characters' own evolution, writing them gradually took a turn I didn't expect.

Let's talk about the main character's sister, for instance. She was supposed to be the one responsible for her brother's downfall, and my intention was to make it cruel. But as I wrote her over the months (and year), building up a strong and determined personality for her, along with a fragile soft side and carefree dreams, I really took a liking to her. I've grown to admire her resilience, her way to put up with tough circumstances (war, refugee camp, flight on deserted roads, deprivation of food) and keep a determined front, yet still nurturing dreams that a teen her age should totally be having. She's been doing everything in her limited power to afford a life as balanced and satisfying as the situation could allow. She's such a great character!

She's still flawed, as all my characters are. And her young age and broken heart are going to crush her for a moment, an irreversible moment, after which everything will be lost. It will no longer be her direct responsibility, contrary to what I had planned; she'll just confide in the wrong person. That moment of unexpected treason will trigger a series of fateful events that will smash everything to pieces.

@the-wip-project Days 12 & 13

Prompt:

Unfortunately, things never go according to plan around here.

Indeed they don't.... I NEVER INTENDED TO WRITE THE FIRST CHAPTER OF A NEW WIP IN THREE DAYS!!! I'M SHOUTING BECAUSE I'M SUPER EXCITED!!!

Look at your characters, maybe even the one you created yesterday, and be honest. Do you have a type?

I've been scratching my head about this question. I don't know if I have a type of character. I certainly have a recurrent type of plot though lol.

What I could say is that my main characters are meant to complete each other one way or another and to meet half-way on their individual paths. My stories revolve a lot around building bridges, facing trauma, sweeping unpleasant truths from under the rug, starting personal inner journeys. So my characters are flawed from the start, aware or not of their own missing pieces and weaknesses (but soon to be) and I guess this is the type of personae I enjoy staging and following along the relative unknown of the plot, the encounters it brings about, self-discovery and retrieving some balance after their life being more or less disrupted.

I realise it may sound super heavy 😅, but it's not necessarily the case. It matches fluff as angst equally.

Personae

@the-wip-project Day 11

How do you create your characters? Do you make a profile of them? Do you know your character before you start writing the story?

I've tried several tools, from the basic bullet list of characteristics on the first loose paper I could lay my hand on, to an intricate mind map of the story cast with pictures, places, dates, etc.

Since a lot of the creative process goes through an insanely vast amount of daydreaming time, my characters are quite happy with budding and growing in my imagination. Their features existing already, only some details become more precise over time. But overall, I like to respect canon in that regard.

But it's the writing that really gives them the consistency I'd like their personalities to have. And this is when the magic happens because I'd be at a loss to say with precision what they're like before I actually start writing. As the letters, words and sentences flow on the blank document, their profiles take shape; the traits which are meant to be set, revealing de facto those that are going to follow the arc of development and evolve along with the plot.

@the-wip-project Day 15

Does your WIP have fairytales? Do your characters tell mythical stories to each other?

Yes, they do! And since my stories all take place in Asia, I've had a lot of fun digging out some interesting ones for lovely scenes. Here's an extract from one of the earlier chapters of WIP1:

“They’re well known folk-tales, which my eomeoni and halmeoni used to tell me when I was very young, back in Wonsan.” Hence why she thought about him when she found the book, Junghee believes: the idea that his mother is thinking about him fills him with some sweet nostalgia again and brings about the familiar lump that has kept him company here at the back of his throat. He’s so grateful she asked this book to be delivered to him; so grateful Jimin is the one who brought it to him.

“Let’s read some!” Jimin cheers, standing up. “Where’s that lamp you had?” Junghee hears him shuffle over the floor in the dark, blindly feeling along until he hears the scrape of metal. “Ah, here it is.” He winds it up, illuminating his face from underneath, as awake and lively as ever, before he takes his place back on the bed, by Junghee’s side this time, and directs the light towards the book. “So, pick one,” he adds. “Not too long though. And a happy one. Oh, and funny too.”

“Aish, hyung. Folk tales are not always funny. They’re meant to convey messages, lessons of tolerance, generosity, love and hope. This one, for instance, ‘The Two Brothers Who Threw Away Their Lumps of Gold.”

“You’ll have to tell me where the hope is here. The title alone is stupid. Pick another one.”

“But these two brothers love each other!”

“Doesn’t erase the fact they’re stupid…”

“Okay… so, ‘The Beggar Brothers’ —”

“No please, not poor people! I’ve had my share of poverty.”

Junghee pinches his lips to stifle a snicker, and flips more pages: “How about ‘The Net Bag for Catching a Tiger’? About how a man became rich.”

“Brilliant!”

They settle against the wall, bodies pressed close against one another across the narrow width of the bed, legs extended in front of them.

“Once upon a time, there was a poor young bachelor. [why are they always poor?] Because he was really poor, he went to the mountains to find something to eat, [sounds familiar…] but then it became nighttime. He found a house while wandering around and asked the old man who was the owner of the house, if he could sleep there for one night. The old man told the bachelor to come in. The old man was making a net bag with straw. The bachelor asked, ‘why are you making a net bag?’ The old man answered, ‘if a poor person goes into the net, that person will get a lot of money.’ [sounds fishy already] The bachelor was very interested, and asked, ‘May I get into the bag?’[what?] The old man answered, ‘Of course’. He got into the bag, which had been finished. Then the old man suddenly tied up the mouth of the net bag [I honestly saw that coming] tightly and hung it on a big branch in the mountain. The man screamed because he was scared. [Gosh, is he gonna lure the tiger with that poor bugger?]”

Junghee stops his reading, thinking, then yawns loudly.

“So? What happens next? Where's the tiger?”

“Hyung, aren’t you tired? I’m exhausted,” he whines, standing up to get to the bed where the blankets are. He climbs onto it and spreads the two blankets over him.

“Sun Junghee! What happens next? How does it end?” Jimin threatens, hurrying to his side with the lamp and poking him in the ribs.