Hopefully this thread will get replies hehe.

So I know we've all had those days where we are anxiously just counting down the minutes until we get time to have for ourselves and cry our heart out. Sometimes we've had days where a flow of tears just suddenly gushes out of our eyes.

We've all been there.

Hopefully most of us have written about it?

I would love to hear about how you guys describe those moments. Whether you focus on the physical effects of crying or whether you describe it through a metaphor, I would love to see how you guys envision these moments.

This is a bit of a weird thread I know. You don't have to write from personal experience, you could also write from your character's perspective and whatnot.

So, how would you describe an outburst of tears?

This is an interesting thread!

In my experience, I tend to describe the emotions first and then write something along the lines of "she couldn't hold it back anymore". Or using ocean waves as a metaphor (cheesy but it works haha). Or I will sometimes describe the physical effects ie burning tears, lump in the throat, sudden shortness of breath.

For me it always depends on the situation. Anger, Grief, Depression, even Joy I try and give each emotion the most fitting of descriptions. I try to focus on the feeling but not go into a long winded rant kind of because then it loses all meaning. I like to capture the moment, if I need to use other characters or even flashbacks I will.

I describe that feeling with the word 'restlessness'. Not sure if the word covers the state completely. I am not a writer, so I have not written about it, but guess I would describe it like this.

A moment in which the heart grows tight and beats faster, grows impatient to the point of hurt, while a suffocating desire to leave gives birth to tears. A profound state of misery that hides the world around momentarily by blocking your view with rain.

For more episodes on Ravel cannot write but is stubborn as heck, keep watching this channel.

I envision it as someone who tries to hold back her tears, she doesn't know if she's allowed to be angry or not and then suddenly she breaks down. Or a small child throwing a tantrum. Depends on the context. Use comparisons. "With a mere minute, the child's face had changed from a glowing angel's smile into a wet, shivering mass of tears" or "She stood at a stand still, unable to move or be anything other than upset, although she fought the tears, a small wet trickle ran down her face."

For crying, I actually find any words that describe the motion of bodies of water works - i.e. trickle, flow, dripped, dampen, etc. You just have to figure out what kind of crying is happening and the effect you want to create and choose the appropriate water motion, and voila you get descriptive crying scene right there.

Most of the time I describe events and actions and I let some emotions speak for itself.

I describe only about emotions, like crying, when it has a specific effect on the circumstances.

It depends what I'm making the character cry for and why they're crying at all; if it's angry crying, I like to use powerful and uncontrollable imagery. Sometimes I keep it subtle. Since I cry a lot in real life because I'm a huge cry baby, I also analyse how I burst into tears.

Usually, things get too much and I'll put that same 'overwhelmed and confused mental stuttering' in the work. (This works better in first person UNLESS you're using something that effects the entire meta. See: homestuck). Very stream of consciousness.

Fighting back tears usually ends up being a lost cause for me, haha. You know it's inevitable when your throats starts bubbling and readying itself for the incredibly loud howling sob. (Shrug emoji goes here)