Body language

Flaviosky

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Joined
Jul 14, 2021
Messages
193
Location
Chile
Hello community,

As you may have noticed, english is not my first language and although I've been told it's fairly good,, while writing my WIPs I've encountered sort of a language wall I've been struggling with, and it's associated to body language.

It's been really hard to find the right/correct expressions to certain common ways to express the character's emotions, like rub the chin with the fingers when someone is thoughtful, shrug the shoulders up to express doubt or ignorance or to hunch the shoulders (is this one even right?) when feeling sad, tired or defeated.

So i'm open to everyone's contribution as a brainstorming of useful body language expressions to convey emotions.

Thanks!
 
Hello community,

As you may have noticed, english is not my first language and although I've been told it's fairly good,, while writing my WIPs I've encountered sort of a language wall I've been struggling with, and it's associated to body language.

It's been really hard to find the right/correct expressions to certain common ways to express the character's emotions, like rub the chin with the fingers when someone is thoughtful, shrug the shoulders up to express doubt or ignorance or to hunch the shoulders (is this one even right?) when feeling sad, tired or defeated.

So i'm open to everyone's contribution as a brainstorming of useful body language expressions to convey emotions.

Thanks!
Don't worry, even native-speakers struggle with that sometimes. Fortunately, there are many resources that we could use. For instance, there are books that compilate verbs and expressions for writers (like this one). And there are also many resources available for free on the web. I found one that may be of use to you, but you could just google it. I don't think there's reasonable space to post a emotion thesaurus here on this forum.

Keep writing!
 
body language is one thing. What you want might be another.

I'd look into this...



it might give some ideas.
 
I usually try to just put myself in the character's position and see how the character might react. I have found that it is best to use just some very common movements, even slightly exaggerated. I have learned that being more creative, i.e., more obscure, in my character's actions led to confusion in readers. Some various action beats I have used:
  • clenched jaw
  • ground teeth
  • rolled eyes
  • shuddered or shivered
  • cleaned glasses
  • closed eyes and sighed
  • clenched fists
  • stared blankly
Is this the type of thing you are looking for? I'm not sure tht there are cultural differences in the types of actions that one would use, but I would guess use those and translate them to English. At worst, the actions may come off as kind of quirky.
 

Similar threads


Back
Top