How To Make A Character's Death Sadder

Holy ovaries of steel. Why did I think Relena was “boring and wussy" when I originally watched this show!? I was clearly not paying attention. Contextually this is incredibly stupid, but also incredibly brave and at least a little bit badass.

Description: Kissing and Smiling

Anonymous asked: I’m having a problem when it comes to describing kisses and smiles without using the word lips and still sound natural. Usually, I don’t mind the word, but it seems like I’ve been using it far too often in my writing, especially when it comes to smiles or smirks. Do you have anything to help with that?

Writing smiles and kisses without using the word “lips” is pretty tricky, but it can be done. Just don’t go overboard in trying to avoid using the word. Lips are crucial to both of those actions, so you can’t avoid them entirely. One thing to keep in mind with describing kisses is that lips touching lips or skin isn’t the only thing going on. Hands are roaming, hearts are speed-thumping, and hormones are going crazy–so just spending a little time on what else is going on will both flesh out and lengthen the scene without having to keep describing what the lips are doing. Smiling, at least, gives us a little more to work with. For one thing, there are multiple ways to indicate that someone is smiling:

grinning

beaming

laughing

giggling

chuckling

simpering

sneering

There are also many ways to describe the face of someone who is smiling:

face brightened

face glowing

eyes lit up/sparkled/twinkled

looking delighted/happy/amused/pleased/satisfied

cheeks dimpled

upturned face

And there are ways to describe what the mouth is doing when someone smiles:

mouth upturned

mouth twitched (quick smile)

mouth quirked/quirked up/quirked at the corners

mouth twists with [emotion]

And, instead of smiling, you could describe other visible aspects of the emotion causing them to smile:

doing things with enthusiasm

a bounce in their step, skipping, dancing

swinging arms, tapping feet

showing interest

happy tears

fist-pump, clapping, moving excited

Also, internal aspects that the person smiling might be feeling:

radiating joy

lighthearted

feeling good

being content

(with thanks to The Emotion Thesaurus for help here…) Here are some additional resources for you: Kissing Scenes How to Write a Kissing Scene via letsvvrite Pucker Up! via WriteWorld 5 Steps to Writing the Perfect Kissing Scene via Miss Literati Describing Character Reactions And Emotions: She Smiled, He Frowned

Duo, innocently: Please let me go. I’m just a naive young boy who got caught up with the wrong crowd.

Hilde: How did you get out of the handcuffs?!

Duo, back in his normal voice: Ah, just a trick I learned in juvie.

Shukou Murase, Special Edition DVD Artwork Quatre Raberba Winner

@softnocturne

Sentence Prompts

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Where are your pants?”

“I laugh because I hurt inside.”

“Please refrain from shooting her, we need her for later.”

“You look like an open autopsy.”

“That’s french for ‘go away’.“

“You know, I would help, but making fun of you is so much more satisfying.”

“No, you silly goose, it’s magic!”

“Put me down!”

“How much did someone pay you to wear that?!”

“What did you just do?!”

“Stop filming me, moron!”

“It was all me, by the way.”

“Look at this, ACTION ROLL! They’ll never see it coming!”

“You know ‘give me a warning’ means let me know BEFORE they come in here!”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”

“I may have mildly panicked…”

“Ooo, that must’ve hurt!”

“I am very, very bad under pressure!”

“Shut up, it’s fine, just chill, we’re fine, I’m fine, everything is cool, everything is good! We’re chill, nothing is happening and I am not freaking out, not at all, we’re FINE.””

“Now, not to be forward, but I love you.”

“I’m 72 different flavors of done with you.”

“Hey, on the ground there it says you’re a gullible shit.”

“It’s do or die, most likely die.”

“No it’s ‘Protect and Serve’ not ‘Get Rekt and Swerve’.”

“You make me smile.”

“Liam Neeson would do it.”

“Jail can’t stop me.”

“It’s four o'clock, don’t you think you should fuck off?”

“I remain confused.”

“As the wise Scooby Doo said; “Ruh Roh”.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I feel fabulous.”

“Can someone shoot him?”

“Well this isn’t at all like High School Musical.“ 

“Quick, blend in!”

“At the moment, it seemed like a good plan, obviously it was not.”

“Well obviously nothing is going on here!”

“Can I help you?”

“Don’t be intimidated by my bloody and battered figure.”

“Is your name Bob? You look like a Bob.”

“KILL ME! KILL ME IN THE EYES!”

“Well that was unsettling.”

“Don’t judge me, but I may have murdered someone.”

“Why is there a picture of Steve Buscemi in your bathroom?!”

“My budget is 5 dollars, what are your recommendations?”

Top Ten Things That Are Not Impressive For Action Characters

Sticking the landing . All this does is jack up joints. Collapse and roll. Hit the ground with the largest surface area possible.

Headshots . You sound like bragging gamers.

“One shot, one kill.” Same as above. Aim for center mass and unload until they stop moving.

Disabling shots . Depending on the time period, you’re either consigning them to a lifetime of nerve damage and pain or a slow death from infection. Also, injured people can still fight back.

Anything with a flip . Telegraphing your moves and taking several extra seconds to get it done just allows the other fighter time to block.

Throwing people . Unless you’re literally trying to get some space for an escape or a ranged weapon, why did you throw them? It takes a ton of effort and now they’re all the way over there.

Prolonged fights . Most brawls are over in seconds. Seconds. Competition fights last longer because there are safety limits and controls in place.

Ignoring backup . Congratulations on your ‘does not play well with others’ sticker.

Overly complicated weapons . Different weapons were developed to take advantage of specific conditions, be they environmental, tactical, or weaknesses in your opponent’s situation. Picking the wrong one because it looks cooler just puts you at a steep disadvantage.

Basically anything overcomplicated . Climbing in top floor windows when you could walk in the service entrance. Fighting through twelve guards when you could poison someone’s dinner. Training in eight martial arts styles when a pillow over the face will get them just as dead. It’s not really that impressive to make more work for yourself.

Heero: Get off my chair. Please. Or else.

Quatre: I’m teaching him to be more polite.

Heero: Please get off my chair please. Or else please. I will kill you please.

Duo: It’s working.

Heero, in the distance: Get fucked, shithead, please! Or else. Please.

Preventer Agent: Agent Barton is so cool. I saw him backflip off a moving car once.

Another agent: yeah, well I saw him take out 9 guys with his bare hands.

Duo: he also forgot how to spell his own last name yesterday. So keep that in mind.

Common Phrases Correctly

OZ Soldier: Turn around!

Duo, singing: Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you’re never comin’ round~

OZ Soldier: TURN AROUND!!

Duo: Every now an- [gets tased]