Stop Talking: Body Language in Literature

In every story involving more than one character, communication or lack thereof plays a key role in developing both plot and personalities. When it comes to writing that communication, there is often an emphasis on dialogue. However, dialogue is only one small part of a character’s voice. Portraying body language in fiction is vital for adding realism, making an emotional impact, and grabbing the attention of readers.

Reading that a character is feeling defensive doesn’t evoke the same sympathetic understanding as reading that their shoulders inched up under their ears, knuckles going white at their sides as they spread their feet to stand their ground. There is a greater realism in the reader “seeing” or feeling the reaction for themselves. After all, in a real conversation, there is often more than a bland notification that someone is feeling an emotion. Readers have a life outside literature that contains untold numbers of small clues for them to intuit feeling and meaning from others. As a writer, it is your job to give your work a sense of that reality. Words floating without bodies will never capture that life with the same ease as simply including a character’s body language.

Some use of body language falls under the well-worn phrase of, “show, don’t tell.” A character with their arms crossed, leaning on a wall near the exit may not seem entirely interested in what the others have to say, backed up by terse spoken words. Body language is especially helpful in this way if one wants to avoid hopping perspectives from page to page, allowing a first person or limited third person protagonist to pick up clues without the reader hearing other characters’ direct thoughts. It helps them to come to their own conclusions, creating a greater impact on the reader. In fact, in 2007, an undergraduate study by Meredith Brinster at John Hopkins University demonstrated that children tend to learn new words more easily when the meanings are inferred from context rather than told to them. Similarly, the Socratic method of teaching revolves around the idea that a revelation from your own reasoning is stronger than if you are told the fact on its own. Clues that the reader figures out for themselves are more rewarding and will last longer in their memory. As the writer, everything the reader knows about the world comes from you. Portraying body language supplies them the opportunity to gain these insights in the world you’re showing them.

Following that train of thought, body language can also play a role in intrigue. According to Darlene Price, author of Well Said! Presentations and Conversations That Get Results, people tend to believe nonverbal cues over the actual words spoken in a conversation. Imagine a spouse telling you that everything is fine - but their feet are pointed at the door, their back is tense, and their jaw is set. They may even have crossed their arms over their chest and have their face turned away. You might just ask again; after all, they don’t seem fine. The body language is given greater weight than the spoken word.

With this tool, a writer can craft dramatic irony. In other words, they can create the tension that comes from giving the reader knowledge that other characters don’t have. When a character’s body language says one thing and their mouth another, readers will know that there is a lie even if your other characters do not. Even if the character speaking is lying to themselves. The lie seeds an anticipation for the reveal, especially as the number of discrepancies grows. Additionally, if the content of the secret or lie is not known to the reader, it can add a further layer of intrigue, a mystery of subtext bubbling right under the surface. Red herrings are especially fun to use here, since the lie might not be what the reader expects. Thus, the reveal creates an entirely different tension when the nonverbal clues of deceit were ambiguous from the start. Overall, body language makes an effective hook to add intrigue to otherwise straightforward dialogue.

Still, whether hook, realism, or emotional impact, it may seem that body language is an entirely visual medium. Therefore, blind readers must be addressed here, as well. Not all readers who are blind were born that way nor are all blind persons fully without sight. Those who have never experienced sight can still experience body language through touch and sound, especially from their own. Not to mention the very use we are discussing: body language in literature. There will be some cultural differences between individuals, but universal body language regarding basic emotions like pride or shame is widely accepted to be inborn whether a given person sees it outside themselves or not. Therefore, though it may sometimes be a frustrating part, body language is still a part of their reality and can enrich the stories they read.

After all is said and done, experiencing body language from the inside is a fairly universal sensation. We know the feeling of our arms thrown to the sky in victory, how cloth wrinkles in our hands when we grip it in a tight fist, and the tense heaviness of a head bowed under another’s tirade. From the outside, we have seen our loved ones hold themselves together with shaking hands and heard the tap of an impatient foot on a hardwood floor. Neglecting body language in a story can erase the realism, impact, and intrigue in a character. Instead, show the feelings, the conflict, the lies and truths that shape your character and allow the reader to get in close. Give them a relationship rather than an outsider’s experience. Shared memories instead of a book they once read. Simply allow your characters to move. Then, they can truly be alive.