  Drama
This week: The Importance of Body Language Edited by: lizco252
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| Hello, WDC ~ and thank you for reading! I'm lizco252, your editor for this week's edition of the Drama Newsletter! |
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Body language...
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We all speak it ~ maybe not as flamboyantly as Ursula, but sometimes on purpose and sometimes subconsciously.
Back in the day when I worked at the bank, we had a customer who would come in on occasion, and her body language was... OVERT, shall we say. You could see this chick comin' a mile away and the message to all was: HANDS. OFF. Not only did she scream hypochondriac with her face mask and white gloves, but it was obvious that she was terrified of contact with other human beings. When she would cash a check, she would stand away from the teller window, gloved hands clasped in front of her, and you couldn't just hand the money to her. No. She would point at the counter and ask you to place the cash down, after which she would scoop the money into paper towels, which she brought with her, wad it up and put it in her purse. I'm guessing she would go home and slather each bill and coin in anti-bacterial soap or maybe even straight-up bleach. One day, one of the other tellers decided to pull a bit of a prank. He saw her walk through the door, waited until she got half-way to the teller line, then proceeded to start coughing and hacking like a carrier of the plague. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard him, her body went stiff, her eyes widened into saucers of horror and she high-tailed it outta there as fast as her feet could carry her. She was not going to conduct any banking that day.
While her body language was obvious and out there for all to see, body language on a day to day basis tends to be more subtle. Or not. I once had a friend tell me, Beth, it is so obvious when you don't like someone. You don't say anything, but man, you cannot hide it.
This came as a shock to me at first, until I asked her what she meant.
You literally give them the cold shoulder. You look at everything BUT them when they're talking, your facial expression is completely dismissive and uninterested, you cross your arms in front of you or half-turn your back to them, and you have this little fluttering eye roll you do when they're not looking in your direction.
Say what?!
But then when I thought about it, thought back on encounters with people I wasn't necessarily fond of, I realized she had nailed me. It's probably not the most flattering thing to admit about myself here, in a site-wide newsletter, but I never really realized I was doing it until she pointed it out. Now I'm totally conscious of it, and I try very hard not to give off those vibes or clues ~ unless they're well deserved. 
So, let's explore some emotions and situations where body language can sometimes say more than words.
 Desire: What do we look like, how do we act when we desire someone or something? If that someone or something is within our grasp, there might be a touch, a stroke, a look, perhaps a move to get closer, a chance to brush up against the object of said desire. Maybe a flirtatious and subtle lick of the lips, or a sip of a drink with major eye contact.
Anger: Your character is angry. Obviously, you can convey that anger through dialogue, but what does that anger look like on your character? Do they get red-faced? Do their eyes bulge? Are they gonna pop a vein? Clench their fists? Maybe they have a tic, like biting their lower lip or breathing heavily or squinting/narrowing their eyes at the person they're talking to. Maybe they shift from one foot to the other, with their arms folded across their chest (or not). Do they hunch their shoulders? Draw themselves inward? Turn away to block the person they're angry at?
Happiness: By the same token, what does your character do when they're happy? Do they open themselves for a hug, a handshake? Maybe they're more reserved, with a smile and maybe a nod. Perhaps they don't like to be touched or resent intrusions on their personal space. Or, maybe, they long to be touched, but don't know how to convey that to the people they encounter...
Maybe their body language doesn't always work in their favor. To me, that is something to play with: That moment when body language is turned on its head. I really would like to connect with you, on a physical level, but I don't know how.
EXERCISE:
Try writing a scene with no dialogue at all. Instead, try writing it from a body language point of view. Can you get your point across? |
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Drama: October 05, 2016 Issue [#7893]
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