take it easy

Age

adolescent, afresh, ancient, antiquarian, antique, big, childish, crude, doddering, elderly, fresh, full-grown/full-fledged, green, hoary, immemorial, infant/infantile, junior, late, medieval, mint, modish, new, novel, older, old-fashioned, originally, outdated/out-of-date, passé, quaint, refreshing, secondhand, stale, state-of-the-art, undeveloped, up-to-date, well-preserved, youthful

Appearance

adorable, aesthetic/esthetic, artistic, beautiful, comely, crisp, dapper, decorative, desirable, dressy, exquisite, eye-catching, fancy, fetching, flawless, glorious, good-looking, graceful, grungy, hideous, homely, irresistible, natty, ornate, plain, pretty, refreshing, resplendent, seductive, spiffy, striking, stylish, ugly, unbecoming, willowy, with-it

Genuineness

abstract, actually, alias, apocryphal, apparently, arty, authentic, baseless, beta, bona fide, circumstantial, concrete, contrived, credible, deceptive, delusive, dreamy, ecclesiastical, empirical/empiric, enigmatic/enigmatical, ersatz, ethereal, factual, fallacious, fantastic, far-fetched, fictitious, foolproof, fraudulent, good, hard, historical, honest-to-God, illusory/illusive, imitative, indisputable, invisible, just, lifelike, made-up, magic/magical, make-believe, matter-of-fact, metaphysical, monstrous, mystic/mystical, mythical/mythological, nonexistent, openhearted, ostensibly, paranormal, physical, positive, pretended, quack, quite, realistic, right, sincerely, specious, spurious, supernatural, synthetic, tangible, true, unearthly, unnatural, unthinkable, unvarnished, unworldly, valid, veritable, wholehearted/whole-hearted, wrong

Movement

ambulatory, brisk, clumsy, fleet, fluent, frozen, gawky, graceless, immobile, indolent, itinerant, leisurely, lifeless, liquid, lithe, maladroit, migrant/migratory, motionless, moving, nomadic, oafish, passive, pendulous/pendent, portable, restless, roundabout, sedentary, slow, speedy, static, vibrant, winding

Style

adorable, baroque, becoming, black, bold, brassy, cheap, class, classy, contemporary, country, cultural, dashing, dowdy, eat high on the hog, exquisite, featureless, flamboyant, floral, flowery, formless, futuristic, garish, gay, glamorous, gorgeous, grand, graphic, hot, improvised, informal, innovative, kinky, loud, lush, luxurious, mean, meretricious, modish, neat, new, obsolete, old-fashioned, orderly, ornamental, ostentatious, outdated/out-of-date, palatial, picturesque, plush, posh, prevalent, quaint, refined, resplendent, rustic, scruffy, sharp, simple, sleazy, smart, snazzy, spiffy, spruce, stately, state-of-the-art, stylish, swank/swanky, tacky, tasteless, tousled, two-bit, unbecoming, unworldly, up-to-date, vogue

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary. Writing Resources PDFs

𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡/𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

I hope this helps! I rarely write anything with Protagonist vs. Antagonist.

​1. 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑃ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑙​

​The easiest way to signal her moral repulsion is by making her body physically reject him, even if her mind is intrigued.

𝐹𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛: Small physical movements that signal retreat or defense.

𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦: She hated that she found him attractive. <- you can, but do not be repetitive.

𝑇𝑟𝑦​: Her shoulders tighten when he leans too close, as if bracing for a punch. She never holds his eye longer than a second.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡​ barriers. What does she put between them? A desk, a glass, her own folded arms. He is an invading force, and she is building a small fort.

​Example:

He crossed the room, slow. She gripped her pen, hard enough to hurt, and didn’t move her feet, but her chair slid back an inch on its own. A nervous, involuntary flight.

-

The room shrunk when he walked in. It wasn't the size of the man. It was the weight of his intent.

​She leaned against the stone window frame. Cold and solid. Her anchor.

​He paused right beside her shoulder. Not touching. Just existing.

​Like a presence behind you—not footsteps, but heat. Tension. That charged electric hum in the air.

​She couldn't help the small, sudden wave of dread or the intrigue.

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2. 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑​

​Attraction happens in the senses—it’s automatic and not a choice. Use her senses against her will to show that his presence is too much.

𝐹𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛​: The things she can't control—her pulse, the heat, the sound of his voice.

𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦: She tried not to listen to his voice.

𝑇𝑟𝑦​: His voice was low, a steady vibration she felt in the floor and in the back of her throat. It was too rich, like a glass of malbec.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡​: Micro-reactions. Use heat and cold. Heat is the attraction (hot spots, quick breath). Cold is the fear/disgust (a sudden chill, cold hands).

​Example:

He paused his teasing, a smile playing out across his mouth. ​He didn't break contact, tracing the curve of her collarbone with his stare. A touch without a hand. She didn’t know why her skin flushed hot, except that the air in the room suddenly felt thin, the smell of his cologne overwhelming.

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​They were arguing, quiet and fierce, by the fireplace. The low light made everything heavy and orange.

​He was focused on her, his eyes dark. The look wasn't kind. It wasn't even angry. It was a reading. A slow inventory.

​She kept her voice flat, trying to keep her posture rigid. But under the weight of his gaze, a spot on her throat felt hot. She could hear the sudden shallow sound of her own breath.

​He didn't break contact, tracing the curve of her collarbone with his stare. A touch without a hand.

​The disgust was the lump forming in her jaw. The attraction was the terrifying realization that she couldn't look away from him.

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3. 𝑈𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡’𝑠 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠​

​The antagonist's hands are a powerful tool for tension. They represent his power, his capacity for harm, and the thing she is simultaneously drawn to and revolts from.

𝐹𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛: What he touches and how she reacts to it.

𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦: He looked dangerous.

𝑇𝑟𝑦​: She watched the casual way he turned her own phone over and over in his palm. His knuckles were bruised, a flash of red beneath his cuff. The power to hurt, held delicately.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡​: ​Near-misses. He doesn't have to touch her. He just has to touch things near her.

​Example:

He leaned against the wall right beside her head. He didn't touch her, but his jacket sleeve brushed the cotton of her shirt. She could feel the static, the proximity. It felt like a threat.

-

​He took a slow sip from the wine glass. Then, without breaking eye contact, he set it down on the low table, exactly where her fingers were resting on a stack of files.

​His index finger lingered on the stem of the glass, a millimeter from her hand. A quiet assertion of territory.

​The wine on his breath was rich and close. She pulled her hand away, sharp and fast, not wanting the ghost of his touch on her skin.

​Disgust: A sudden, sickening clarity of who he was and what he wanted.

​Attraction: The thrilling, unwanted jump in her heart that the danger caused.

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4. 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝐵𝑒 𝑎 𝐿𝑖𝑒

​When she talks to him, her words should be fueled by disgust, but her physical state (heart rate, breath, eyes) should betray the attraction. The dialogue is her conscious mind fighting her instinct.

𝐹𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛: ​A disconnect between her clear, sharp words and her chaotic, messy body.

𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦: "Stop that," she said, face heating.

𝑇𝑟𝑦​: “Get out of my house,” she clipped, her voice steady. But the word came out on a gasp of air, and her eyes kept flicking down to his mouth.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡​: The pause. A tiny hesitation before her angry reply allows the tension to build. The pause is the moment her unwanted attraction takes hold.

​Example:

“No,” she managed. "I would never lower myself to align with some like you." The words tasted like ash and cheap bourbon. He only smirked, and she had to swallow, hard, to stop herself from asking what he wanted from her.

-

Summary Action Points

To Show Disgust/Repulsion | To Show Attraction/Tension

Dialogue -> Sharp, short, combative, building physical barriers.

Pauses, swallowed words, rabbling or complete silence, unintentional shaking in the voice.

Body Language -> Rigid shoulders, gripping objects, pulling away (even an inch), flat face, cold eyes.

Quickened pulse, shallow breathing, flushing/heat, desperate looks.

Senses -> The smell is too strong; the voice is invasive; a sudden chill. Agitation.

Sensory focus on his hands, his mouth, his eyes.

Dividers by @/rmstitanics