All Write - Fiction Advice

There’s one thing that writers don’t use to their advantage as much as they should, and that’s body language. Sometimes, it’s not what characters say that catches the reader’s attention, but how they react to others and the situations around them. Little things like facial expressions, gestures, ticks, movements and posture all convey silent communication; they help the reader understand and interpret what characters are really thinking and feeling. Writers are good at telling us what the characters looks like, what they wear and what the characters say, but how they act and react to other characters and what goes on around them is rarely exploited. We might see snippets of movements between dialogue, known as narrative “beats”, but often what we get are stock gestures like licking of lips, tilting the head, hands in pockets, running hands through hair, smoothing of ties and so on. This doesn’t give the reader much depth or character insight. Body language should allow the w...