: Re: 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

@Eichhorn147

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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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