  Short Stories
This week: The Green-Eyed Monster Edited by: Shannon  
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Emotions can motivate or imprison us. They have the power to bring out our best as well as our worst. Today we will take a closer look at jealousy, the seventh in a series of newsletters focusing on what it means to be human.
Throughout the process of writing this newsletter series I referred to The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Please show them some love by buying your very own copy of this invaluable book here.
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"My wife's jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was." ~ Rodney Dangerfield
While Rodney Dangerfield was known for being hilarious, jealousy is no laughing matter.
What is jealousy, exactly? Dictionary.com has several definitions, but this one sums it up best: mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry, unfaithfulness, etc., as in love or aims.
As writers, we must be careful which words we choose. Not everyone will notice misspellings, faulty punctuation, inconsistencies, and outright errors, but all it takes is one--one reader to write a negative review of your novel or short story. That one negative review might discourage others and result in them passing over your work in favor of someone else's. Did you say your character is jealous when you really meant envious? Envious when he's actually jealous? Is there a difference?
As we discussed in "E is for Envy" , there is a difference, but how do you remember what it is? Here is a simple breakdown I found on vocabulary.com:
Here is a simple breakdown I found at vocabulary.com:
It's no fun to feel envy or jealousy because both make you feel inadequate. Envy is when you want what someone else has, but jealousy is when you're worried someone's trying to take what you have. If you want your neighbor's new convertible, you feel envy. If she takes your husband for a ride, you feel jealousy.
Envy requires two parties, like you and that neighbor, when you want her new car and you wish you were the one riding around with the top down.
Jealousy requires three parties, like you, your neighbor, and your husband, when not only do you wish you had that cool car, but you're worried your husband is going to ride off into the sunset in it without you.
You can feel envy about something you don't have but want, but you feel jealousy over something you already have but are afraid of losing, like that husband who's always hanging out next door.
Now that we've established the difference between envy and jealousy, let's delve a little deeper. Skin deep, to be exact.
Ah, jealousy. Everyone's experienced what it feels like when that rollercoaster of emotion plummets at ninety miles an hour into your breadbasket. It's not a good feeling, is it? Depending on the severity of the situation, one might feel helpless, scared, anxious, angry, insecure, hopeless, and eventually out of control as his emotions (and vivid writer's imagination) run amok. It sucks big time. Yes, we all know what it feels like, but how do you describe what's happening inside your character when she's struggling with it?
Physical:
 sneering
pursed lips
criticism
rudeness
tight muscles
Mental:
turmoil
comparing
anger
desire for revenge
negativity
Internal:
rapid breathing
upset stomach
chest tightness/burning
pain in chest, stomach, and/or jaw (from clenching teeth)
anxiety and/or fear
Readers want to feel something, and nothing engages them quite like sympathetic characters. Write convincingly, make them care about your characters, and they will trust you enough to suspend their disbelief ... and come back for more.
Thank you for reading.
"Jealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretense of keeping it alive." ~ Havelock Ellis
For other newsletters in this series, see the links below:
Part 1--"Shackled and Chained"
Part 2--"My Last Nerve"
Part 3--"Unbreak My Heart"
Part 4--"E is for Envy"
Part 5--"Imaginary Lover"
Part 6--"Soul Eater"
Part 7--"The Green-Eyed Monster"
Part 8--"Ego Trip" |
I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. Please do the authors the courtesy of reviewing the ones you read. Thank you, and have a great week!
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1194171 by Not Available. |
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#1648163 by Not Available. |
| | Paranoia (13+)
It was supposed to be a phony prophecy, yet the fires of jealousy and rage were stoked.
#1114130 by iKïyå§ama  |
| |  | The New Baby (E)
A young boy's life gets turned upside down when mom has another baby. children's story.
#1228582 by Kay  |
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The following is in response to "Soul Eater" :
hammer18 writes, "Oh, but this is brilliant! This is the emotion I've been missing. My characters and dialogue draw more compliments than any other aspect of my work, yet this has been missing throughout my work. Perhaps because I write action/adventure, and my characters are of necessity quite capable, they rarely have need of this, but letting them occasionally be ashamed of some flaw could bring quite a new area of depth. Thank you tremendously for this!" Thank YOU! I'm glad you found the newsletter helpful. Write on! 
ChrisDaltro-Chasing Moonbeams  writes, "Thank you for featuring my short story, The Monster in my Closet, in your awesome WDC Newsletter Short Stories: Soul Eater, of August 12 1015." As always, you are most welcome, Christina.. 
ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy writes, "Shame is the lifelong emotion of the victim of sexual assault/rape while guilt is the lifelong emotion the SEXUAL ABUSER SHOULD FEEL ALL OF HIS/HER LIFE. The victim is not responsible for the nasty/bad/horrible/terrible/unnameable/unforgivable action against her/him which is so powerful it, shame, affects all aspects of the life and makes joy and happiness impossible until the shame-filled victim seeks and gets through counseling help which takes years. Meanwhile the guilty abuser goes his merry way continuing abusing other victims and seldom has the emotion of guilt which he/she should have every minute of their horrible, nasty lives." Absolutely true, Ann. That is one crime I don't believe can be rehabilitated. It is a mental illness for which there are no meds or cure. I have several friends and family members whose lives have been destroyed by sexual abuse. For the abuser it's over once they complete the disgusting act, but for the abused it infiltrates their entire lives. It demolishes their very soul, and there isn't a punishment harsh enough to compensate for that, in my humble opinion. Thank you for sharing. 
Pumpkin Harvest writes, "Shame can be inherited, too, passed on from the previous generation. Through no inadequacy of his own, no wrongdoing, a person can feel the shame his parents felt or that he was taught to have." You are so right, pumpkin. I know because I experienced it myself growing up. It's awful, and very difficult to overcome, but it CAN be conquered with self-kindness and TLC. Thank you for reading and commenting. 
brom21 writes, "When people mention shame, they think of self-destruction and meaningless torment. It is the same way with guilt. The other kind of guilt which convicts you and makes you truly sorry for misdeeds is positive and healthy. The problem, like you said, is that people confuse them. Thanks for the newsletter. I totally understood what you meant. Kudos!" Aw, thanks! Sometimes I wonder if what I write makes sense. It's a relief to know that at least a few people are picking up what I'm putting down. 
Cheri Annemos  writes, "I am deeply thankful for your articles on emotions and the body sensations that go with them. These may be obvious to your more seasoned writers, but that is not my case. I appreciate these reminders and teachings." Oh, you are so sweet! Thank you so much. I'm glad you find them useful.  |
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Short Stories: September 09, 2015 Issue [#7195]
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