Literati -- A Reference Question for You

G

Guitarist

Senior Member
Readers and writers and all others are welcome to respond.

How come, in novels, the heroine (and occasionally the hero) is blinking back tears? Blinking to keep them back? It never works for me -- I blink, and they spill out.

So, just wondering what your thoughts are on the matter.
 

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It's a go-to phrase, much like "trembling lips" and "heaving chest".

"With trembling lips and heaving chest, Alphonse blinked back tears".
 

Well, if you look up and kinda blink at the same time you can fight off tears, maybe at the expense of coming off a wee bit special, but still it works. How attractive it is, is another matter.
 
And as a fellow singer once pointed out to me, the heroine's chest (or often, bosom) was heaving because she hadn't been taught how to breathe properly from her diaphragm! :D

And please, not one smart comeback. Not one! We are, after all, all seniors here. ;)
 
OK, I knew someone would totally disregard my plea ...

Just purse your lips, Falcon, you're whistling in the wind here ... ;)
 
I used to love teaching diaphragmatic breathing in my T'ai-Chi classes, especially the ones with healthy women in them ...

"No, no, no - you see, you breathe from HERE and not from HERE - in, out ... in out ..."

*sweaty palms pressing in and out on stomachs and chests as I stand behind them*

:devilish:
 
jujube said:
And how come the heroine (books and movies) always looks so alluring when she weeps. When I cry, I look like a red-faced red-eyed nose-running overgrown baby.
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I also always wonder why the heroine always wakes up from sleep looking like she just stepped out of a salon -- makeup intact and hair looking wonderful. That's not the way I wake up, for sure. Even when I was a girl of 18, that's not the way I woke up looking! Maybe I missed the memo about how to do that . . . .
 
Guitarist said:
And as a fellow singer once pointed out to me, the heroine's chest (or often, bosom) was heaving because she hadn't been taught how to breathe properly from her diaphragm! :D

And please, not one smart comeback. Not one! We are, after all, all seniors here. ;)
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You're so right. She should be breathing from her abdomen but when we're in a state of stress we revert to the old unhealthy habit of chest breathing which only increases our stress, and leads to the term, heaving chest. :eek:

I agree with Phil and the others that this is just a go to phrase for writers.
 
Actually, I just like looking at the covers that always feature bosoms bursting out...��
 

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