“I can’t decide,” sighed the child.“How hard can it be — either chocolate or vanilla!”

“But  I can’t decide.”

UNDECIDED .  Haven’t we all felt undecided.  Making decisions is not always easy, even if it’s something as simple as the ice cream flavor we want.  Life decisions are even harder.

And harder yet is portraying that undecided character.  Body language plays a role here along with the dialogue for this character.  Think of someone wavering or vacillating, back and forth between choices.

undecided | adjective

1. not decided or determined.
2. not having one’s mind fully made up.
Synonyms:  indecisive, fluctuating, wavering, vacillating, irresolute.

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Writing dialogue for the undecided character is simpler than building an image of that character in the reader’s mind.  The answers of the undecided character easily come to mind.  Look at the options in this image.

But it’s the person, the character the writer wants to breathe life into.  Characteristics that come to mind are:

• scratching the head
• looking up while holding the chin
• an expression of confusion or perplexity
• agitation shown by pacing or walking around

Images may help portray body language:

If stumped when writing, always search for images such as these and print them out. Tack them on the wall or stand them against something on your desk and use that image to spur your imagination and creative juices along in the development of your undecided character, or any character for that matter.

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The sound of the word “terse” would lead you to think perhaps this reflects only a tense and cutting personality.

However, terse is a composite of many emotions. The terse person is usually polished, smooth and elegant. Another who is terse might be brusque and short.

terse | adjective

1 : smoothly elegant : polished
2 : using few words : devoid of superfluity <a terse summary>; also short, brusque <dismissed me with a terse “no”>

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With its origins in Latin, its root, tersus, means clean and neat. Researching the word “terse” showed me as a writer I could not only develop a character of many proportions from this adjective, but also could learn a bit about my writing style.

In my career as a legal secretary/administrator, an attorney for whom I worked for a short period was terse.  There were times when it seemed that he had no time to answer my questions or share the time of day.  Over time, I came to understand that this was a man who did not believe in wasting his words or breath.  However, in the courtroom, he dazzled judges with his terse arguments and closing statements — concise, to the point, simple.  This attorney was well-trained, both from the standpoint of time management and the legal aspects of his clients’ needs.

The writing tip in the definition above is held in the words “using few words : devoid of superfluity.”

Instructors and coaches teach us we should write tight, ridding our writing of any unnecessary words.  In essence, we are to be terse writers.

Examine some of your writing to see if indeed you are a terse writer, or is this something you need to be conscious of more often.

The more information passed along with the fewest words may make for more readers, happy readers, well-informed readers.

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Some of you are likely too young to remember the song, Sentimental Journey. Les Brown and Ben Homer wrote the song, and Homer wrote the lyrics.

Here’s a recording featuring Doris Daysinging Sentimental Journey,the song her first hit in 1945.

The song’s melody and lyrics set the tone for the word “sentimental.”

sentimental | adjective

1 a : marked or governed by feeling, sensibility or emotional idealism
  b : resulting from feeling rather than reason or thought sentimental attachment> <a sentimental favorite>
2 having an excess of sentiment or sensibility

Most often the sentimental person tends to sugar-coat things, to be lovey dovey, cloying, soupy or corny.  All this meaning characterized by a tendency toward the romantic or nostalgic.

This image from the movie, War Horse, reflects an expression in the young actor’s face of sentimental feelings toward his horse.  The knowledge that his horse may be taken from him to serve in the military’s cavalry creates feelings of nostalgia, emotions related to love for his animal, and loss.

Steps back in time, memories, photographs, letters from special
friends or family can all evoke sentimental responses. Keeping these in mind as you
write in your sentimental character will make it easier
to develop that character’s persona.

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