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THE ABCS OF WRITING BODY LANGUAGE
Private Notes
Private Notes
Notes
I've traveled to enough foreign countries to know that body language is, indeed, a language. I didn't need to know a lick of Hebrew to understand that an elder lady was upset that my friend put her feet up on an empty bus seat, and no Sesotho was necessary to notice two teenagers flirting across a table. In writing anything other than picture books, body language is an essential part of making the reader feel connected to the characters and fully present in the scene. Although body language can be used to convey personality, it's most often an indication of a character's emotions. Below are some common emotions and corresponding body language that can be incorporated into your story or poem.
Anxious - biting lips, tapping feet
Bitter - peering eyes, sucking teeth
Grateful - touching heart, tilting head
Humiliated - covering face with hands, gasping
Indifferent - shrugging shoulders, leaning backwards
Jealous - giving a fake smile, widening eyes
Kindly - touching delicately, leaning in
Lazy - yawning, stretching
Mischevious - grinning, hiding hands
Nervous - sweating, rubbing arms or legs
Overwhelmed - sitting down, touching chest
Playful - bumping someone, ruffling hair
Quirky - grinning slyly, shifting eyes
Relieved - closing eyes, stretching arms
Stressed - grabbing hair, touching face
Thoughtful - placing hand on cheek, playing with hair
Uncomfortable - crossing legs, tensing shoulders
Vain - flipping hair, winking
Xenial - leaning toward others, patting someone's back
Yearning - clasping fingers, giving direct eye contact
Zealous - resting hands on hips, giving a firm hand shake
Comments
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Andrea, this is invaluable information. Thank you so much for sharing. I have been struggling lately with finding the right way to describe my MC's body language. The rest have been fairly simple to articulate, however this one not so much.
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You are so right! Love this list, thank you so much for sharing!
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You're most welcome.
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This is so accurate, I love the way you write!
So glad it's helpful. Yes, we use body language so much but not often that we really think about the subtle differences.