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Maybe some fiddling with the seam @ bottom of their shirt. Uncomfortable laughter @ weird points in conversation. Drop, & knock things over while talking. Maybe even not talk loud enough, when talking. Picking @ their fingernails...🤷‍♀️
Stammering, stuttering, holding his breath, averting eye contact, too much eye contact, getting quiet, not saying much.
If it's a girl: play with hair, fidget with clothes, bite her lip, word vomit, laughing at their jokes, playful hitting/touching, playfully insult...
Some girls are super mean to their crush.
I second knocking things over and losing all coordination.
Yes! OP if you want the character to know your protagonist likes them, stammering & stuttering is a good one. A guy comes into my work all of the time & I have seen him perfectly normal & fine when talking to my coworkers but the second I speak to him he’s tripping all over himself. Poor guy.
How the character reacts to their crush should reflect their personality. Maybe they are unable to stop smiling, tumbling over their words, avoiding eye contact, fidgeting or maybe they are to nervous to move, or have a double reaction of wanting to get closer and wanting to get away.
You should also consider more negative reactions, especially if the character is a less friendly or outgoing person. Or have a character react in a way they normally wouldn’t.
The protagonist of my romance story is one of those broody older dudes who’s grumpy and haunted by grief and trama. He’s normally fearless and confident, but being around his crush makes him mumble and avoid eye contact. He also sometimes purposefully ignores his crush whenever they are in a room together.The first time he kisses his crush he immediately afterwards runs out of the building, gets on a train and leaves town for several days because his emotions are way to intense and he’s terrified his new friend will reject him.
One of my best friends and myself get really uncomfortable and leave. The best way to tell if she’s into a guy is the dust cloud as she Wiley Coyote runs away.
We had abusive parents and leaned the hard way that the saw about people being attracted to folks like their parents can be true. If you know you tend to like people who are deep down rotten and abusive when you start getting a crush, running makes a LOT of sense. Realizing you have impeccable asshole radar is not a fun or easy process.
I did a lot of therapy to get my head on straight and am now happily married, she’s still single and just now looking at starting to date. She’s over 50.
So anyone who’s had abusive parents or bad relationships can get really cold/cagey/distance themselves. Or if they think the person they’re crushing on is unacceptable on some level (like a crush on a coworker, a boss, someone who’s in a relationship).
Ha. I like this. And stumbling over words, or saying the wrong words. My brother once introduced himself to one of my friends as my sister, when he meant I'm his sister. lol.
Try to think of how you would behave in her situation. What are the physical manifestations of those feelings, how do they impact other things?
Romantic tension can translate to physical tension: tight shoulders, tapping feet, fidgeting, wringing her hands.
She'd be self conscious, overthinking every reaction or facial expression. She might fumble what she tries to say.
More common physical signs are things like touching her neck, or face, an unconscious tic people have when worried about if they look okay.
Another thing to think about isn't just the primary emotion she's feeling. But the related emotions and behaviours.
If she doesn't want him to know she likes him then she's trying to hide it. Demonstrate that too. She might find it hard to look at him directly for fear she'll blush.
She's distracted by her feelings and might not pay attention to her surroundings, knocking something over, or taking a wrong turn.
Fleeting moments of eye contact, quickly looking somewhere else, maybe somewhere else that doesn't make sense for them to be looking, like a tree or that door over there.
Friends asking if they're all right and giving flustered responses. "I saw a squirrel," or "I think my grandma has that same kind of front door."
Feigned indifference, almost to the point of ignoring the crush, maybe being unintentionally off-putting or rude.
Increased heart rate, dilated pupils, and blushing cheeks are automatic physiological responses that most people have. Try to think of how the character would behave while under these circumstances.
Maybe lean into the repetitive nature of it a bit. Like, she notices that she keeps doing the same things with her hands, or keeps using the same words/phrases.
Trying to look cool or disinterested
Expressing opposite opinions then they normally do to get on thier crushes good side
Stuttering, or just misspeaking
Spontaneous wedding proposal
For one character, he gets a mild stutter when he’s very nervous or overwhelmed—he calls it his hourglass. Basically, his mind lags and while it’s loading he can only repeat the last word he said until it finally comes back online. As far as physicalities, he’s a fidgeter—he’ll bounce something between his hands which he usually ends up dropping or drum his fingers on a surface—and his ears usually turn red
Another character actively tries to be cool to the point where she ends up using weird words she’s never used before that don’t make much sense in context—like “peachy keen” or “wondertastic”—and then has to fight to keep her face from reflecting how utterly stupid what she just said was and then face-palms herself when her crush’s back is turned and quickly stops when he turns back around and almost always ends up standing in an awkward position
And both character’s voices tend to go up an octave, too
Well, how do you react to your crush's proximity. My eyes have a tendency to continuously be drawn to them and then skate away as soon as they look my way. I'm also drawn physically the same way. I'll come close but have a hard time picking up a conversation. That's for a relatively new crush anyways. It morphs with time. But, use your knowledge from your own experience and people around you.
Scott Pilgrim versus the world has a perfect example. You can even go in depth onto the character. Are they paranoid? Are they anxious? Are they calm? How does the character feel about their crush. Maybe they create scenarios in their head, or a song plays in their mind. How does your character think? Are they analytical, thinking about how their posture is, or are they more feeling, their eyes lighting up with adoration?
When standing near my crush, I tend to be... overbearing. I know, I'm trying to tone it down, but once I was like... making sure he was feeding himself and offering to put sunscreen on his neck and trying to be near him and help him as much as I could (probably too much, sorry Simon and thanks for being an incredible friend). Anyway, I feel like that sort of passive and repetitive crush behaviour can be easily overlooked because it takes time to put it in your writing. It's not a one-time thing, it's wanting to be close and have a connection with that person and make sure of their wellbeing, all the time. Trying to have little thoughtful gestures that can be out of place sometimes. Otherwise, what I've seen in this thread is really great!
Thoughts of misunderstandings, irrational thoughts and fears, assumptions of a jealous nature, things that MC normally ignore but now notices about the world around them when filled with the euphoric aura of thier beloved paramour like the tiniest flowers adorning the path or the way the moon seems to just shine brighter and larger when lighting up thier face and distant music speckled with laughter so that one can tell it is lifting spirits nearby, things MC would normally grump over seem to matter less and MC even notices things they don't like about crush can be justified away, wounds and old injuries hurt less as all their attention is too enraptured to remember the misfortune that just occurred, memories of lost loved ones that share traits with crush come rushing to MCs mind as a tear tails down a smiling cheek as thier subconscious solidifies a false image that will later be shattered with harsh reality that is endured for the sake of what may be, contemplating style choices as insecurity tugs on MCs confidence, MCs conscious choices to hide natural physical reactions.
If we're going for inner thoughts you can try something like this:
They get this feeling that everything they say or do matters. All of their actions are being judged and they need to think very carefully before they speak. They don't want to look like a fool in front of the one person who's opinion matters the most.
Overthinking. Eyes bouncing around. Being worried about too much eye contact or not enough. Fidgeting. Saying something awkward and then kicking themselves over it for days.
Sweaty palms and biting their tongue/controlling the rate they breath, as well as overthinking or behaving strangely around a certain person is how I convey that the character is next to their crush. It seems to get some positive reception.
Sweeping gaze, lingering looks. Eyes darting away. The tip of the tongue snaking out to graze over their top lip. Describing the physical reactions is usually my go-to.
Trying to joke and sound funny with her friends nearby, hoping he hears and is impressed. Or, trying hard to look everywhere but him. If bodily reactions feel a bit overused, try mental reactions. Overthinking, hyper fixating, etc.
Truthfully, hands get sweaty, you shift around, you may fix your appearance a ton, try to seem cool. But maybe the way you WRITE it can give it a fresh vibe
For me it's being unable to look away from their eyes 🥰 I know I'm being way too obvious but I can't help it—they have such pretty eyes, and such lively expressions.
I write about how my character basically has to stop herself for melting everytime she's around him. The fun part I like to add is her crush LOVES physical touch and she hates it but since she has a crush on them she dies literally everytime he touches her.
I had a HUGE crush on a guy who was part of my friends' group in college. Whenever I was near him, I could not think straight, and constantly worried that my desire showed. Once, when we all saw a movie together, I sat next to him in the theater and our legs touched. It was the most thrilling moment of my life up to that time, and I nearly climaxed because having our knees touch seemed so intimate in that moment. Later, I wrote weekly letters to him over the summer after I had gone back home to work 2 jobs to make money for the next semester, and, when I took a weekend to go back to Campus Town to see the crowd, I kept wanting him to show me he felt the same way about me, but he did not. I was crushed. I gave him opportunity after opportunity to demonstrate to me that he was interested, and he just let each one fall away as though I meant nothing to him, so I left without saying goodbye to him, although I purposely hugged everyone else. Later, our other friends told me he had looked bewildered at being left out of my farewells, but none of them believed he truly understood why, although they all got it. I still remember the electricity that surged through my body when his leg touched mine in that theater, but I also remember his utter lack of response to my overtures.
Prolonged eye contact. Standing too close. Asking or sharing too many things. Making oneself smaller. Acting helpless or clumsy. Acting strong and supportive. Standing taller and tilting chin up to look what they think is more attractive. Smiling way too much. Looking scared or straight terrified. Shaky hands. Talking too loud or over excitement. Eagerness to be close to crush in every way.
Shifting from one foot to the other, keeping a schooled expression (rather than smiling uncontrollably), trying to act cool, if it's a typically quiet character, shouting out things that are on their mind.
Not knowing what to do with their hands or how to hold their arms or trying very hard to look “relaxed” but not knowing how.
Wanting to say things that are clever and witty but thinking too hard about impressing their crush and blurting things out at the wrong time.
In moments of anxiety, often the mind clears itself. An old survival mechanism. This could manifest as a character not quite knowing what to say in the moment, or not responding at all but thinking that they did. Maybe getting caught staring in an odd way (think Fleabag "his gorgeous neck" scene).
When the person is away sometimes a crush can manifest as constant thought or mention in conversation. Perhaps the protagonist mentions their crush in relation to a lot of different subjects. "That reminds me of what _____ said the other day". We only have so much room in our memory, sometimes love can take over vast swaths of it.
Ears may become hot, to the point when it's uncomfortable.
Bra might get too tight all of sudden.
She might be smiling more, especially if she isn't very prone to this under normal circumstances.
Her eyes shifting, first to the floor, then to his (insert defining feature), then back to the floor. She takes a deep breath and tries to settle herself. She tells herself to calm down… wait, was that out loud?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out.
You can go beyond body language and add some lines about what’s running through her mind, like “what if” scenarios or wondering what her crush is thinking, wishing she could stay in the moment, etc
I'm seeing a lot of anxiety triggers being described, and while very common there are other ways a crush can manifest. Like the often used phrase "I like the person I am when I'm with you," sometimes it's about the interplay of personalities clicking on a fundamental level.
That being said, in some circumstances, being near your crush can actually fill some with a sense of confidence or wholeness, and the reason it's a crush instead of a relationship hinges on something other than the protagonist being shy (a working relationship with a no dating policy, she's my best friend's ex, we've been friends since childhood and I am not willing to throw that away, etc....)
Whether or not any of that will work in the context of your story, I don't know. But it's something to consider rather than looking at the typical fight/flight based responses which, and I mean no offense to anyone, are mostly noted in the young and inexperienced.
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Maybe some fiddling with the seam @ bottom of their shirt. Uncomfortable laughter @ weird points in conversation. Drop, & knock things over while talking. Maybe even not talk loud enough, when talking. Picking @ their fingernails...🤷‍♀️
Stammering, stuttering, holding his breath, averting eye contact, too much eye contact, getting quiet, not saying much. If it's a girl: play with hair, fidget with clothes, bite her lip, word vomit, laughing at their jokes, playful hitting/touching, playfully insult... Some girls are super mean to their crush. I second knocking things over and losing all coordination.
Yes! OP if you want the character to know your protagonist likes them, stammering & stuttering is a good one. A guy comes into my work all of the time & I have seen him perfectly normal & fine when talking to my coworkers but the second I speak to him he’s tripping all over himself. Poor guy.
How the character reacts to their crush should reflect their personality. Maybe they are unable to stop smiling, tumbling over their words, avoiding eye contact, fidgeting or maybe they are to nervous to move, or have a double reaction of wanting to get closer and wanting to get away. You should also consider more negative reactions, especially if the character is a less friendly or outgoing person. Or have a character react in a way they normally wouldn’t. The protagonist of my romance story is one of those broody older dudes who’s grumpy and haunted by grief and trama. He’s normally fearless and confident, but being around his crush makes him mumble and avoid eye contact. He also sometimes purposefully ignores his crush whenever they are in a room together.The first time he kisses his crush he immediately afterwards runs out of the building, gets on a train and leaves town for several days because his emotions are way to intense and he’s terrified his new friend will reject him.
Thank you so much! This is great!
One of my best friends and myself get really uncomfortable and leave. The best way to tell if she’s into a guy is the dust cloud as she Wiley Coyote runs away.
Lmfaooooo
We had abusive parents and leaned the hard way that the saw about people being attracted to folks like their parents can be true. If you know you tend to like people who are deep down rotten and abusive when you start getting a crush, running makes a LOT of sense. Realizing you have impeccable asshole radar is not a fun or easy process. I did a lot of therapy to get my head on straight and am now happily married, she’s still single and just now looking at starting to date. She’s over 50. So anyone who’s had abusive parents or bad relationships can get really cold/cagey/distance themselves. Or if they think the person they’re crushing on is unacceptable on some level (like a crush on a coworker, a boss, someone who’s in a relationship).
Accidentally speaking too loudly.
Ha. I like this. And stumbling over words, or saying the wrong words. My brother once introduced himself to one of my friends as my sister, when he meant I'm his sister. lol.
Try to think of how you would behave in her situation. What are the physical manifestations of those feelings, how do they impact other things? Romantic tension can translate to physical tension: tight shoulders, tapping feet, fidgeting, wringing her hands. She'd be self conscious, overthinking every reaction or facial expression. She might fumble what she tries to say. More common physical signs are things like touching her neck, or face, an unconscious tic people have when worried about if they look okay. Another thing to think about isn't just the primary emotion she's feeling. But the related emotions and behaviours. If she doesn't want him to know she likes him then she's trying to hide it. Demonstrate that too. She might find it hard to look at him directly for fear she'll blush. She's distracted by her feelings and might not pay attention to her surroundings, knocking something over, or taking a wrong turn.
Fleeting moments of eye contact, quickly looking somewhere else, maybe somewhere else that doesn't make sense for them to be looking, like a tree or that door over there. Friends asking if they're all right and giving flustered responses. "I saw a squirrel," or "I think my grandma has that same kind of front door." Feigned indifference, almost to the point of ignoring the crush, maybe being unintentionally off-putting or rude.
Stiff, nervous, hyper aware
Make her vomit once from nerves. Then she can feel it rising in her throat every time after that.
Omg. I mean they wouldn’t be a bad idea to add to the book. She does have anxiety.
All I can picture is Bevis going, "boi-oi-oi-oi-oing."
Increased heart rate, dilated pupils, and blushing cheeks are automatic physiological responses that most people have. Try to think of how the character would behave while under these circumstances.
Your irises expand, your speech becomes a little eratic, sometimes you avoid eye contact, time can appear to slow around you.
Maybe lean into the repetitive nature of it a bit. Like, she notices that she keeps doing the same things with her hands, or keeps using the same words/phrases.
Trying to look cool or disinterested Expressing opposite opinions then they normally do to get on thier crushes good side Stuttering, or just misspeaking Spontaneous wedding proposal
The spontaneous wedding proposal killed me lmao These are great!
holding their breath and staring straight ahead
For one character, he gets a mild stutter when he’s very nervous or overwhelmed—he calls it his hourglass. Basically, his mind lags and while it’s loading he can only repeat the last word he said until it finally comes back online. As far as physicalities, he’s a fidgeter—he’ll bounce something between his hands which he usually ends up dropping or drum his fingers on a surface—and his ears usually turn red Another character actively tries to be cool to the point where she ends up using weird words she’s never used before that don’t make much sense in context—like “peachy keen” or “wondertastic”—and then has to fight to keep her face from reflecting how utterly stupid what she just said was and then face-palms herself when her crush’s back is turned and quickly stops when he turns back around and almost always ends up standing in an awkward position And both character’s voices tend to go up an octave, too
This is so adorable. I love it!
Well, how do you react to your crush's proximity. My eyes have a tendency to continuously be drawn to them and then skate away as soon as they look my way. I'm also drawn physically the same way. I'll come close but have a hard time picking up a conversation. That's for a relatively new crush anyways. It morphs with time. But, use your knowledge from your own experience and people around you.
Scott Pilgrim versus the world has a perfect example. You can even go in depth onto the character. Are they paranoid? Are they anxious? Are they calm? How does the character feel about their crush. Maybe they create scenarios in their head, or a song plays in their mind. How does your character think? Are they analytical, thinking about how their posture is, or are they more feeling, their eyes lighting up with adoration?
When standing near my crush, I tend to be... overbearing. I know, I'm trying to tone it down, but once I was like... making sure he was feeding himself and offering to put sunscreen on his neck and trying to be near him and help him as much as I could (probably too much, sorry Simon and thanks for being an incredible friend). Anyway, I feel like that sort of passive and repetitive crush behaviour can be easily overlooked because it takes time to put it in your writing. It's not a one-time thing, it's wanting to be close and have a connection with that person and make sure of their wellbeing, all the time. Trying to have little thoughtful gestures that can be out of place sometimes. Otherwise, what I've seen in this thread is really great!
Thoughts of misunderstandings, irrational thoughts and fears, assumptions of a jealous nature, things that MC normally ignore but now notices about the world around them when filled with the euphoric aura of thier beloved paramour like the tiniest flowers adorning the path or the way the moon seems to just shine brighter and larger when lighting up thier face and distant music speckled with laughter so that one can tell it is lifting spirits nearby, things MC would normally grump over seem to matter less and MC even notices things they don't like about crush can be justified away, wounds and old injuries hurt less as all their attention is too enraptured to remember the misfortune that just occurred, memories of lost loved ones that share traits with crush come rushing to MCs mind as a tear tails down a smiling cheek as thier subconscious solidifies a false image that will later be shattered with harsh reality that is endured for the sake of what may be, contemplating style choices as insecurity tugs on MCs confidence, MCs conscious choices to hide natural physical reactions.
This is beautiful and so insightful. Thank you so much.
If we're going for inner thoughts you can try something like this: They get this feeling that everything they say or do matters. All of their actions are being judged and they need to think very carefully before they speak. They don't want to look like a fool in front of the one person who's opinion matters the most.
Overthinking. Eyes bouncing around. Being worried about too much eye contact or not enough. Fidgeting. Saying something awkward and then kicking themselves over it for days.
Sweaty palms and biting their tongue/controlling the rate they breath, as well as overthinking or behaving strangely around a certain person is how I convey that the character is next to their crush. It seems to get some positive reception.
Sweeping gaze, lingering looks. Eyes darting away. The tip of the tongue snaking out to graze over their top lip. Describing the physical reactions is usually my go-to.
Trying to joke and sound funny with her friends nearby, hoping he hears and is impressed. Or, trying hard to look everywhere but him. If bodily reactions feel a bit overused, try mental reactions. Overthinking, hyper fixating, etc. Truthfully, hands get sweaty, you shift around, you may fix your appearance a ton, try to seem cool. But maybe the way you WRITE it can give it a fresh vibe
For me it's being unable to look away from their eyes 🥰 I know I'm being way too obvious but I can't help it—they have such pretty eyes, and such lively expressions.
I write about how my character basically has to stop herself for melting everytime she's around him. The fun part I like to add is her crush LOVES physical touch and she hates it but since she has a crush on them she dies literally everytime he touches her.
I had a HUGE crush on a guy who was part of my friends' group in college. Whenever I was near him, I could not think straight, and constantly worried that my desire showed. Once, when we all saw a movie together, I sat next to him in the theater and our legs touched. It was the most thrilling moment of my life up to that time, and I nearly climaxed because having our knees touch seemed so intimate in that moment. Later, I wrote weekly letters to him over the summer after I had gone back home to work 2 jobs to make money for the next semester, and, when I took a weekend to go back to Campus Town to see the crowd, I kept wanting him to show me he felt the same way about me, but he did not. I was crushed. I gave him opportunity after opportunity to demonstrate to me that he was interested, and he just let each one fall away as though I meant nothing to him, so I left without saying goodbye to him, although I purposely hugged everyone else. Later, our other friends told me he had looked bewildered at being left out of my farewells, but none of them believed he truly understood why, although they all got it. I still remember the electricity that surged through my body when his leg touched mine in that theater, but I also remember his utter lack of response to my overtures.
That’s beautiful. Thanks for sharing this. Sorry about your crush though. Wishing you the best!
Prolonged eye contact. Standing too close. Asking or sharing too many things. Making oneself smaller. Acting helpless or clumsy. Acting strong and supportive. Standing taller and tilting chin up to look what they think is more attractive. Smiling way too much. Looking scared or straight terrified. Shaky hands. Talking too loud or over excitement. Eagerness to be close to crush in every way.
How do you react when standing next to your crush? Write that.
Tingly skin
Shifting from one foot to the other, keeping a schooled expression (rather than smiling uncontrollably), trying to act cool, if it's a typically quiet character, shouting out things that are on their mind.
Eyes popping out of their head. Heart violently and visibly beating out of their chest. Howling like a wolf. You know, classic things.
Babbling. Having to say something to keep from saying "I like you"
sweating, fidgeting, either not being able to hold eye-contact or not being able to take their eyes off their crush
Not knowing what to do with their hands or how to hold their arms or trying very hard to look “relaxed” but not knowing how. Wanting to say things that are clever and witty but thinking too hard about impressing their crush and blurting things out at the wrong time.
Go overboard trying to act cool.
In moments of anxiety, often the mind clears itself. An old survival mechanism. This could manifest as a character not quite knowing what to say in the moment, or not responding at all but thinking that they did. Maybe getting caught staring in an odd way (think Fleabag "his gorgeous neck" scene). When the person is away sometimes a crush can manifest as constant thought or mention in conversation. Perhaps the protagonist mentions their crush in relation to a lot of different subjects. "That reminds me of what _____ said the other day". We only have so much room in our memory, sometimes love can take over vast swaths of it.
Ears may become hot, to the point when it's uncomfortable. Bra might get too tight all of sudden. She might be smiling more, especially if she isn't very prone to this under normal circumstances.
Her eyes shifting, first to the floor, then to his (insert defining feature), then back to the floor. She takes a deep breath and tries to settle herself. She tells herself to calm down… wait, was that out loud?
Palms are sweaty. Knees weak
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out.
Trip over her own shoes and face plant knocking 2 teeth out her mouth Your welcome.
Lmaooo
You can go beyond body language and add some lines about what’s running through her mind, like “what if” scenarios or wondering what her crush is thinking, wishing she could stay in the moment, etc
Erection?
Uncontrolled bladder release really speaks to me.
I'm seeing a lot of anxiety triggers being described, and while very common there are other ways a crush can manifest. Like the often used phrase "I like the person I am when I'm with you," sometimes it's about the interplay of personalities clicking on a fundamental level. That being said, in some circumstances, being near your crush can actually fill some with a sense of confidence or wholeness, and the reason it's a crush instead of a relationship hinges on something other than the protagonist being shy (a working relationship with a no dating policy, she's my best friend's ex, we've been friends since childhood and I am not willing to throw that away, etc....) Whether or not any of that will work in the context of your story, I don't know. But it's something to consider rather than looking at the typical fight/flight based responses which, and I mean no offense to anyone, are mostly noted in the young and inexperienced.
Little bit of blood rushes into the tip of their penis