Exposing Your Characters

Nudity is one of those weird things where you seem to either have too much or too little of it. As writers, we need to debate its use as it has plenty of meanings that we may not be ready for; the use of nudity in the wrong situation may give a scene an unusual flavor. However, its proper use can add deeper meaning to the scene as well as increase its immersion value. Nudity can be all sorts of fun to include, but its use does need to be debated.

What It Brings to the Party

Symbolically, nudity can be used in three different ways: exposing the character's true self, showing moments of vulnerability, rebirth, and titillating. Titillation is pretty basic; this is the literary equivalent of having a shirtless man just for the sake of having some beefcake. Sometimes you just want something sexy on the page, and there should be nothing wrong with that, especially in the right kind of story. There is just no real way to do a sex scene without nudity; on the other hand, a clothed sex scene says a lot about the need for the character to stay armored, both physically and especially mentally.

Sometimes you're going to want to show the character's true self, and nudity is one of your best tools; by eliminating the character's physical defenses, you can very effectively lay bare their psyche. This allows you to rip off any masks that the character may wear and show their true self. This makes this especially good for scenes involving preparing for things, fighting, and even romance; the character has nothing to hide behind and you get to see the character's stress, adrenalin rush, and true feelings. By stripping off the character's clothes, you strip off their mental armor as well, allowing you to make a powerful statement about the character's true mental state.

For this reason, statements made while the character is disrobed, even partially, have greater weight than when they are fully clothed. It also shows how comfortable two characters are with each other, showing their true relationship.

This can also make the character more vulnerable. If you're trying to show that the character is being taken advantage of, worried about something, or just weaker than normal, stripping them down works. The character's normal defenses have been lowered and the lack of clothing is the best way to show this. Bear in mind that vulnerability is not necessarily a sign of weakness; the best example is that of a father holding a child, where the two are accessing the strength of the father easier due to the lack of interference from clothing, and a stripped-down fighter now has to rely on his natural toughness; while both are vulnerable, that vulnerability shows their willingness to do whatever is needed and that comes from inner strength.

This is also why you see a character about to be raped or tortured stripped; their defenses are being laid bare for whatever abuse is coming their way. This makes the punishment they are about to receive just that more horrific.

Interestingly, the willingness to expose vulnerability can be used to show bravery, real or otherwise; the act of mooning another is one of the best insults, showing that the mooner has no fear of the moonee. This is also why it's so effective in some fight scenes; the stripped-down fighter has decided to drop all pretense and just worry about the other fighter. In some movies, you see a woman strip down and walk off; this is the ultimate "I'll let you see what you can never touch" maneuver. Vulnerability is not necessarily the sign of weakness it may look like.

It can also be seen as a form of rebirth. That is, since the character is as naked as when they are born, stripping them down can show that they are ready for the next stage of their evolution. This is why it features in so many coming-of-age stories; the character is being reborn and there are few ways better to show this than for the character to be at least partially disrobed. This is why it's important for recruits about to hit Basic Training, freshmen being hazed, or even virgins about to be deflowered; they are being reborn and so starting the next stage naked, just as when they were born, makes sense.

Nudity Is More Than Sex

Some writers make the mistake that all nudity is by necessity prurient; that is, it has to be sexual in nature. This is their limitation; nudity can be used in a variety of situations that have nothing to do with sex. While it can be used to give a scene an interesting subtext, especially a gay or lesbian subtext, there are plenty of situations where the character(s) just want to get out of their binding clothes; sometimes you want to sleep unhindered (showing vulnerability), reach out to the universe (making yourself vulnerable), swim without problems (showing who you really are), or just want to change clothes from street clothes to gym clothes or vice versa (a minor form of rebirth as you make mental changes to match the physical changes).

This is not to say that you can't take advantage of the situation to add subtext (two teenagers are constantly fighting but keep looking at each other in the locker room, for example), but don't the mistake that having two characters naked together necessitates that subtext; they could just be very good friends or very competitive making the nudity in and of itself superfluous beyond giving the readers a better insight into their mentality; they are exposing themselves and/or getting into a mindset better for the upcoming conflict.

Nudity should be seen as just one more tool for writers to use. It can do a lot of heavy lifting as well as add a light touch, depending on how it's used. You should not be limiting it to just one role in your writing, but using it to have a lot of fun by adding all sorts of added dimensions to your characters.