Many of us (especially me) try to take short cuts when describing our characters' feelings. We often use common body parts we feel are involved in an emotional response. While this works some of the time, it can get old. In your opionin, which one is better:
Mike was sad when he saw the sick dog
or
Mike's mouth turn downward at the sight of the sick dog
Neither is all that good. The first tells the reader what Mike feels, the other uses a physical cliche to show the reader what Mike feels. A better option would be to get inside the character's thoughts so the reader can figure out what Mike feels. For example:
The dog's skin hung loosely around its shrunken frame. Mike knew all too well what was next for the poor creature. He'd seen it often while working at the animal shelter.
There are two great blogs I dredged up that address this subject. The first is from Mary at Kidlit.com. The second is at a new blog I found called Book Binge.
"Enjoy," she said as her heart fluttered and eyes sparkled. "Thanks for stopping by my blog."
