{"id":1120,"date":"2013-10-15T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2013-10-15T08:00:40","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T15:00:40","slug":"writing-craft-body-language-in-dialogue-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/10\/15\/writing-craft-body-language-in-dialogue-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Craft: Body Language in Dialogue Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest post from Rayne Hall.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Body language can add another dimension to your dialogue scene, because it reveals a person’s intentions, feelings or mood.<\/p>\n

The five main types of body language are gesture, posture, movement, facial expression and tone of voice.<\/p>\n

Gesture Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

She pointed to the orchard. \u201cI saw him there.\u201d
\nHe slammed his fist on the table. \u201cI’ve had enough.\u201d
\nShe scratched her chin. \u201cAre you sure this will work?\u201d
\n\u201cWelcome.\u201d He pointed to the couch. \u201cWhy don’t you make yourself comfortable?\u201d<\/p>\n

Posture Examples<\/b>
\nShe raised her chin. \u201cYou can’t make me do this.\u201d
\nHe locked his arms across his chest. \u201cNo way.\u201d
\nShe leant away from him. \u201cThis isn’t working between us.\u201d
\n\u201cI consider this an insult.\u201d He stood with his shoulders squared and his legs braced. \u201cTake it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Movement Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe another time.\u201d He turned to leave.
\nShe walked faster. \u201cI told you I don’t want a date.\u201d
\n\u201cAll right.\u201d He shuffled forward.
\n\u201cFollow me!\u201d She leaped across the brook.<\/p>\n

Facial Expression Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

Her eyes narrowed. \u201cYou expect me to believe this?\u201d
\nHis cheeks turned tomato-red. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d
\n\u201cI’m sorry.\u201d She stared at the floor. \u201cI didn’t want it to be this way.\u201d
\nThe corners of his eyes crinkled, and his lips twitched. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tone of Voice Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will stand together in this.\u201d His voice was deep and resonant like a church bell.
\n\u201cI’ve told you a hundred times, and I’m telling you again.\u201d Her voice sounded like a dentist’s drill, high-pitched and persistent. \u201cWhy don’t you ever listen?\u201d
\n\u201cYou know that I’m going to kill you, don’t you?\u201d His sounded as casual as if he were discussing the weather. \u201cDo you prefer a shot in the heart, or the head?\u201d
\n\u201cYou’ve been with that floozy again, you cheating bastard!\u201d Her voice was loud enough to wake up the whole neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Body Language instead of Dialogue Tags<\/b><\/p>\n

Using body language allows you to cut boring dialogue tags (he said, she asked, he answered) because it shows who’s talking.<\/p>\n

Tag versions:
\n\u201cWhat about the girl?\u201d he asked.
\n\u201cBastards!\u201d she shouted. \u201cI won’t let you get away with this.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat now?\u201d he wondered aloud.<\/p>\n

Body language versions:
\nHe jerked his chin at her. \u201cWhat about the girl?\u201d
\n\u201cBastards!\u201d She slammed her fist on the table. \u201cI won’t let you get away with this.\u201d
\nHe scratched his head. \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Point of View<\/b><\/p>\n

Most people aren’t aware of their body language. Therefore, use body language for the character who is not the PoV.<\/p>\n

If the body language is intentional, for example gestures, you can use it for PoV and non-PoV characters.<\/p>\n

Lies and Secrets<\/b><\/p>\n

Advanced writers can use body language to hint at secrets and lies. The characters’ words say one thing, but their body language another.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, tell me the rest of your life story, it’s so exciting.\u201d She glanced at her watch. \u201cIt’s a pleasure to hear all about it.\u201d
\nHe hugged his arms around his chest. \u201cI’m not frightened.\u201d
\nHis face paled. \u201cThat’s all right, honey. It doesn’t matter at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a character avoids eye-contact, this suggests that they’re not telling the truth or are hiding a secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon’t wait with dinner for me tonight, darling. Arabella and I will have to work late again.\u201d He did not meet Sue’s eyes. \u201cIt’s a bore, but the workload is getting heavier every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Rayne Hall<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rayne Hall<\/a>\u00a0has published more than forty books under different pen names with different publishers in different genres, mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction. Recent books include\u00a0Storm Dancer<\/i>\u00a0(dark epic fantasy novel),\u00a013 British Horror Stories<\/i>,\u00a0Six Scary Tales Vol 1, 2, 3, 4<\/i>\u00a0(creepy horror stories),\u00a0Six Historical Tales<\/i>\u00a0(short stories),\u00a0Six Quirky Tales<\/i>\u00a0(humorous fantasy stories),\u00a0Writing Fight Scenes<\/i>,\u00a0The World-Loss Diet<\/i>,\u00a0Writing About Villains<\/i>,\u00a0Writing About Magic<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Writing Scary Scenes<\/i>\u00a0(instructions for authors).<\/p>\n

She holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Currently, she edits the\u00a0Ten Tales<\/i>\u00a0series of multi-author short story anthologies:\u00a0Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft, Spells: Ten Tales of Magic, Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies<\/i>\u00a0and more.<\/p>\n

Rayne has lived in Germany, China, Mongolia and Nepal and has now settled in a small dilapidated town of former Victorian grandeur on the south coast of England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guest post from Rayne Hall.\u00a0 Body language can add another dimension to your dialogue scene, because it reveals a person’s intentions, feelings or mood. The five main types of body language are gesture, posture, movement, facial expression and tone of voice. Gesture Examples She pointed to the orchard. \u201cI saw him there.\u201d He slammed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[580],"tags":[626,694,726,728],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing-craft","tag-dialogue","tag-rayne-hall","tag-writing-craft-2","tag-writing-tips-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}