Do you use enough nonverbal communication in your writing?
Fiction writers know that showing what’s happening to their characters rather than talking about it makes for a much more compelling read. Action, dialogue, and detail all contribute to a show-don’t-tell–or story-showing, as I call it–approach to writing a novel or short story. One aspect of story-showing, however, that all too often gets overlooked combines all three: nonverbal communication.
Think about it. When you’re having a conversation, do you just listen to the words? No! You listen to the intonation. You watch how the person holds their body. You take in their expressions and gestures. We all do that.
In the Writer’s Magazine article “Let the Body Speak: Effective Nonverbal Communication in Fiction,” writer Todd James Pierce notes:
“In the 1950s, researcher Albert Mehrabian performed a study to better understand how individuals assemble meaning from conversations. His study found that only 7% of participants, when receiving a spoken message, primarily focused on the speaker’s words; 38% focused on the verbal tone; and 55%, by far the largest group, focused on body language.”
Adding in gestures allows you to show the reader not only a clearer view of what’s going on but also an inside track that you would otherwise have to explain. I like the example Pierce uses to illustrate this:
“If you were to read a passage in a novel set in a museum in which one character asked, “What do you think of that painting?” to which his friend replied, “That one there? It’s great,” you’d naturally think a character was expressing quiet and somewhat quick admiration for a work of art. But if you take the friend’s response and contextualize it with gesture – essentially the visual interpretation that an actor brings to a film performance – the message can take on a range of more nuanced and compelling meanings.
“Take a look at this example of how the language of the body redirects how a reader understands the scene with a greater level of complexity.
“’What do you think of that painting?‘
“’That one there?’ his friend confirmed. He considered it, lifting a dull eyebrow and arranging his lips into a practiced smile. ‘It’s great.’
“In this example, it’s clear that the textual message – “it’s great” – is at odds with the message of his body. His face clearly says that he doesn’t think much of the painting, even though, perhaps to be polite, he is claiming he does.”
In addition to sharing contradictions between the speaker’s words and expressions with your reader, nonverbal communication allows you to convey a character’s truthfulness, their sense of themselves–from confidence (or a lack thereof) to cockiness, and emotions ranging from happiness or surprise to disgust or fear.
While nonverbal communication often accompanies dialogue, it can even replace it. A person closing their eyes and sighing, for example, says a lot, especially if the sigh is described as contented, exasperated, resigned, or sad. Ditto for how they hold their mouth or their bodies for that matter. Lips tightly drawn tell one story. A wide, toothy smile tells a completely different one.
While facial cues readily come to mind when thinking about nonverbal communication, there are actually nine types of nonverbal communication:
- Facial expressions
- Body language
- Gestures
- Volume, pitch, tone of voice, or speed of speech
- Eye gaze or contact
- Personal space
- Posture
- Appearance
- Touch
As a fiction writer, your job, in addition to pounding out prose, is to become a student of the world around you. A few years ago, I wrote a post titled “The Devil Is In the Details,” in which I suggested that you find a crowded place where you can sit with pen and paper in hand and spend an hour people-watching and taking notes about what you see. I proposed that you be on the lookout for:
- Physical tells (think poker here)—from hair, eyes, and any other body-related traits that stand out to how people hold themselves and move.
- Mannerism tells—from habits like bouncing their heels when they sit to speech characteristics.
- Clothing tells —from what they’re wearing to how they’re wearing it.
- Interaction tells—from who they converse with to how they interact and their mannerisms.
- Anything else that jumps out at you.
This time, however, in addition to the elements in the above list, I want you to note (in writing, of course) what you observe related to the nine types of nonverbal communication. Then, let that “research” inform your writing.
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