· Swiping the arm across the air between yourself and another in an “enough!” gesture
· Sarcasm, bitter words, insults
· A tightness in the face
· Thrusting the chin upward
· Making fists at one’s sides
· Anger (shaking, shouting)
· Squared shoulders, rigid muscles
· Refusing to listen
· Thrusting out one's lip
· A sullen glower or glare
· A temper tantrum (kicking, screaming, drumming feet onto the floor, jumping up and down in place)
· Single-minded determination, a keen focus on one's goal despite pitfalls or opposition
Good news! This sample has been expanded and streamlined into book form! The full list of physical, internal, and mental cues for this and 74 other emotions can be found in The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Smashwords. The PDF is also downloadable via the Paypal button in the sidebar.
6 comments:
I favor fingers-in-ears-saying-"Lalalalala--I can't HEAR YOU!"
Subtle facial gestures can also portray stubbornness. For instance, a cock of the eyebrow or an eyeroll.
Good ones.
Nice. A lot of these actually reminded me of the way I act when I'm frustrated...walking away, tight jaw, etc. I love your whole thesaurus idea *thumbs up*
Like creative a, I found myself in that list. Thanks for sharing!
Not a bad list of indicators. I think it should be noted that these indicators are not indicative of 'stubborness' when read in isolation. Verbal, vocal and non-verbal communication may conflict for a variety of reasons. Nervousness may be a cause of crossed arms, stubbornness or even the subject being cold; the subject may just feel comfortable crossing his/her arms.
What I'm trying to say in a nutshell is that you need to consider these indicators if/when they come in clusters and not necessarily in isolation. Still, this list is a good start.
JJ
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