You have just been given terrible news. Unexpected, tragic, and completely devastating news. It's such a shock that you choke out a laugh with a kind of twisted grin. I suppose the accompanying emotion would be one of incredulity. Does anyone know if there is a name for this facial expression? I have described it, but it's wordy and very clunky. I would rather just tell the reader the facial expression the character makes, but I don't know what it is called. Thanks in advance!
If you don't know what it's called, odds are using just the right word here won't do you any good, since--you know--the reader won't know it, either. I'd describe it more as an expression smearing from one thing into another. A pained grin that drifts into a grimace. That's what I remember doing the last time I got news that was too horrifying and outlandish to be true.
Thanks for the reply. Me not knowing the name of a complicated facial expression isn't necessarily an indication that it isn't well known to others - I'm not so aware of some of those things. Perhaps I just need a more concise description. I like the feel of what you said about it smearing from one to the other. I'll play with that and see where it gets me. Thanks!
Grimace? I think that "rictus" is a good starter word for going thesaurus hunting. (I don't believe in using a thesaurus to find words that you don't know, but it can be useful for leading you to the word that you do know perfectly well but can't quite bring to mind in the moment.)
Thanks for the further suggestions guys. These are indeed helpful for researching synonyms which could remind me of the word I’m looking for. I want there to be a sense of abruptness to this expression. I can make the expression myself and visualise it, hear the guttural, grunt of a “laugh” that accompanies it, but nothing concise seems to describe it quite right. I really want to convey this gesture, but I’m not sure it warrants two sentences of description.
Having checked the definition and looking at some pictures of facial expressions, I think “grimace” is actually the correct word. How does this sound? For context, his surgeon has just told him his brain tumour is inoperable, and when he asked how long he had to live, the response was, “a month”. Julian grimaced sharply, grunting an incredulous laugh.
It's always hard to judge what words a person knows. I would have thought rictus was reasonably accessible. And Stephen King doesn't seem to have a problem with it - Google tells me he uses it in Misery, Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary, twice in "The Mangler", twice in Lisey's Story, twice in Night Shift, twice in Skeleton Crew (I didn't bother to figure out which stories), three times in The Wind Through the Keyhole, etc. Hell, I probably learned the word from Stephen King, your patron saint of "simplicity"...
In Chickenhawk - a Vietnam war memoir written by Robert Mason there's a telling, or moving scene, a recollection where one helicopter pilot informs another of the death of their pal, it runs a bit like - 'John's dead,' I said, and I grinned. 'John's dead?' replied Bobby and he returned my intense grin. ... In the situation the two guys aren't able to control their behaviours, their emotional thermostats run haywire, & they are completely inappropriate for several minutes. Eventually they have to avoid each other, feeling utterly stupid...and everything else. I suppose the important thing for writing is that it's not laboured: 'spelled out and explained,' the reader's understanding of poignancy comes only from dialogue & scene. It's very well-written [as you can see, snort], a famous book, very good book.
@matwoolf That's kind of the effect I'm looking for. I think I've described it ok. I'm not sure I'm skilled enough yet to leave out the description but imply his mood. I'd rather briefly describe his expression to ensure the reader knows why he is grinning (i.e. they realise he doesn't think it's amusing)
yes, but the (fun) skill would lie in not writing 'in disbelief,' or 'rictus' or any of the usual qualifiers, I think.
Ah, so you tell the reader what the character is doing, but not necessarily what they are feeling. The reader works that out from the context. Right?
