Friday, November 15, 2013

How to Describe Deep Emotional Pain

   When writing or living, at times a person suffers emotional pain, a deep shearing hurt. When living the hurt, words can't describe the agony, but when writing about the pain, the writer must find words.

    However, after having someone loved deliver to a writer a spat of words, oversight, or action that tears the heart, a writer might try to find a way to describe the physical manifestations suffered to him or her.

 1. Pain and crushing weight in the chest.
 2. Stomach tied in knots, yes, not a cliche but for real.
 3. Brain whirling.
 4. Feeling of suffocation.
 5. Weakness 
 6. Vision blurred
 7. Desire to run, to move, to leave
 8. Overwhelming need to cry: deep, tortured sobs that rip a person apart
 9. Wanting to strike out, to hit a wall, kick a footstool, take physical action
10. Sick, nauseated. 
11. Want to crawl in bed and stay there forever.
12. Feeling hopeless and lost

    Now, if I ever need to write about a person suffering a deep, agonizing, emotional pain, I have a starting point.
   

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great list describing deep emotional pain.

Vivian Zabel said...

I always told my students to find something in their lives from which to build suffering. It's not always easy, but it is possible.