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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40762
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think Standback has a great perspective here.

**Answer: Symptoms of crying are one thing. But you can do other things with this emotion, and you should.**

You can go into the character's thought process.

If the character is crying because of a death, that grief will dredge up every other death the character has gone through. She will miss the person who just died, but suddenly also miss her abuela, and her zio, and so on. The people who might have comforted her if they were around, but their deaths had been so hard as well, because (specific reasons).

She might be in the throes of crying and it might feel like she has no control over it. It's like her body has taken over. She might wonder in the back of her mind how much snot a person can actually make? Because she had no idea she had that much inside her. She might think that at least she'll feel better when she's done.

Things might appear smeary. Her pillow might be getting damp which sucks because it won't dry out by bedtime.

She might worry that someone will overhear her, and know that she can't really stop crying because it hurts so bad. It's that unfair, this death piled on top of (specific things).

She might wonder if she will always be so prone to emotion. She might think of all the people who've told her to stop being so sensitive. She might consider that a stronger person wouldn't cry, a stronger person would find a way to soldier through. But she wasn't strong--she never had been, that wasn't who she was.

In other words, get past the symptoms, especially if we are able to be in her point of view, and use this great emotion as an opportunity to flesh out her past and character.

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