• don’t just say the character is afraid or panicking
• write the actions that would let an onlooker know
• hands trembling, pulse and breathing picking up, frantic eye movement,...
• if you describe it well enough, the reader will feel those things too

• of course, dialogue is still important
• but I would keep it shorter than in other scenes
• don’t make it too emotional or it can appear sappy
• exception: motivational speeches
• think about the difference between showing and telling
• are the characters trying to conceal how they really fell by saying something else?

• relating to a character makes the reader much more empathetic to them and it creates emotions in them
• so try to get the reader to sympathize with your character by showing their journey and their goals
• but if you want to have a rival in that scene, do the exact opposite
• make the reader unsympathetic to that character to make them feel anger towards them or satisfaction if they get defeated

• there is a difference between an emotional scene and a truly traumatic experience
• you don’t want the reader to feel the full range of human trauma
• if the reader is getting too emotional, it could keep them wanting to continue reading
• so in extremely emotional scenes try to show the overall picture
• don’t go into specific feelings, but try to show how this affects your character as a whole
• you can even try to make the scene feel more distant, almost numb and devoid of deep emotions if the reader already knows how traumatic this would be for the character
• sometimes this could affect them even better than showing all the emotions because they can create their own emotions

always remember: you want to pull at your reader’s heartstrings - not break anything