: How can I describe nervousness? Becoming nervous in the heat of a situation. Perhaps you witnessed something not for the faint of heart. Like, how would I describe shaky legs without being

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Talk to people about what happens when they get nervous so you have a strong database of ideas. And give every character a different set of reactions. The main character in the novel I'm working on likes to take leaves or flowers and slowly shred them with her fingers. Another character reacts physically sometimes to the point of violence. Others look away from the person they're talking to.

There are many ways to show nervousness and also many degrees of it. Being scared can overlap but it's different. Some people are energized by nervousness (I am...it's part of why I love to perform on stage). Others lose the ability to speak or to function or to think clearly. Some will stammer or make mistakes. Still others will behave perfectly normally except for that telltale sign only people who know them will notice.

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Well.. There are simple and less simple answers to these kinds of questions that will give you different results.

First; the simple: "He/I was nervous"..
- Not a lot to misinterpret, but not a lot for the reader to feel either.

Second; the less simple: "He/I did this, said this, felt this"
- the "this's" in the example above would then be replaced with examples of behaviour that people are familiar with connecting to
nervousness:


Stuttering / repeating yourself / lacking or missing words
quick/uneasy breathing
using or positioning your hands/arms/legs differently
looking around quickly/without focus
paying attention to certain details, either relevant or not
sweating
the list goes on...

@FlyingPiMonster uses most of these in his example in his answer. You can use whichever suits your characters and the situation they're in. When you describe the qualities of an emotion/feeling/state that someone is in, the reader is more likely to feel that emotion, rather than just "know what you mean"... the what makes the character nervous could in this case be what he's paying attention to

Perhaps:
Think of something that made you nervous - how did you act/react?
If you cannot remember how you behave when nervous (It'd surprise me a little, but) ask someone else how they felt and or acted last time they were nervous. Perhaps even ask someone specific that your character may remind you of, if possible.

Good luck!

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Spend less time describing the nervousness, and more time describing what is making your characters nervous.

Neither of them moved a muscle. Elias could hear his own heartbeat; he could even hear Jamie's nervous breaths. Two sets of footsteps were coming toward them. One was heavy and slow, like an adult's; the other seemed quicker and lighter.

(from something I'm writing)

In this short paragraph, only one sentence is devoted to actually describing nervousness: hearing one's own heartbeat and someone else's breath. Readers know from that sentence that Jamie and Elias are nervous; there is no need to tell them again.

Instead, the rest of the paragraph is about their situation. Why are they nervous? They need to avoid detection, and two mysterious figures are moving toward them. This heightens the tension in the scene and gives Elias and Jamie a reason to be nervous, which is much more effective than continuing to describe nervousness itself.

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