By Tara Johnson, @TaraMinistry
One of my favorite shows is The Behavior Panel on Youtube. Four body language experts who are psychologists, served in law enforcement, or worked in the military analyze the body language of celebrities, politicians, and criminals. Some of their notable observations revolve around people like Scott Peterson, Meghan Markle, Michael Jackson, Amanda Knox and more.
What I find fascinating is how the smallest flicker of body language, the hold of a gaze, a half-hearted shrug can scream a world of information to these experts. Whether it’s insecurity, deception, false bravado, joy or anger, these guys see it all.
Once a baseline is established (a regular pattern of behavior for each person they analyze), the experts can then use changes in a person’s normal pattern to figure out what they are thinking. For example:
~A hand on the hip denotes confidence and readiness to connect
~People who stand with their feet close together are often shy and/or feel insecure
~As stress grows, blink rate increases, as does use of adaptors and barriers, like crossing the arms over the stomach or massaging the arms.
~Fakers will overreact and go too far in the opposite direction of the emotion they want to hide. (Ex. laughing too loudly or smiling too big)
~People who lie often keep steady eye contact on the person they are talking to (instead of looking away) because they want to gauge if the listener is buying their story.
On and on the list goes.
The longer I watched the show, and read the books they recommended to deepen understanding of body language, the more my characters began to leap off the page. In the past, I would fear using too many dialogue tags so I made sure to use lots of character actions in my story. A shrug. A smile. Whatever seemed to go with the situation.
After studying nonverbal communication in depth, and receiving my certification in body language, I have found a deeper understanding of how to express the motives and emotions behind my characters. It made me reflect on every motivation, thought and psychological stress in my story world.
In the past, I might have written something like this:
Jordan ran across the street, his breath heaving. Maybe no one would notice him among the clamoring crowd.
Since studying body language, my writing has grown organically into a structure similar to this:
Jordan’s feet gobbled up the pavement as he raced across the crowded street, his eyes darting from side to side as he scanned the crowd clogging the streets. Each breath was painful, shallow. He shoved in hands in his pockets and hunkered low as he slunk through the growing mob.
Understanding body language, micro-expressions, and posture is the ultimate way to ‘show and not tell’. Since over 50% of language is non-verbal, refusing to unearth our characters’ body language is a recipe for creating flat, one-dimensional fictional people. Body language adds tremendous depth to dialogue, sets tone, and shows readers how a character’s emotions reflect in their behavior. Our faces contain over 90 muscles and each one of them is connected to a specific emotion. (Ex. There is a muscle in the jaw that, when used, is an instant sign of grief. Who knew?)
To learn more, watch The Behavior Panel or pick up books by Scott Rouse (Understanding Body Language), Greg Hartley (I Can Read You Like a Book), or Chase Hughes (Six Minute X-Ray: Rapid Behavior Profiling).
Whether it’s a protagonist, secondary character or the dreaded villain, body language is a powerful way to take your character from average to unforgettable.
With her stammering tongue and quiet ways, Cadence Piper has always struggled to be accepted. After the death of her mother, Cadence sets her heart on becoming a nurse, both to erase the stain her brother has left on the family’s honor and to find long-sought approval in the eyes of her father. When Dorothea Dix turns her away due to her young age and pretty face, Cadence finds another way to serve . . . singing to the soldiers in Judiciary Square Hospital. Only one stubborn doctor stands in her way.
Joshua Ivy is an intense man with a compassionate heart for the hurting and downtrodden. The one thing he can’t have is an idealistic woman destroying the plans he’s so carefully laid. When the chaos of war thrusts Cadence into the middle of his clandestine activities, he must decide if the lives at stake, and his own heart, are worth the risk of letting Cadence inside.
Everything changes when Joshua and Cadence unearth the workings of a secret society so vile, the course of their lives, and the war, could be altered forever. If they fight an enemy they cannot see, will the One who sees all show them the way in the darkest night?
Tara Johnson is an author and speaker, and loves to write stories that help people break free from the lies they believe about themselves. Tara’s debut novel Engraved on the Heart (Tyndale) earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and was a finalist in the Carol and Christy awards. In addition to being published in a variety of digital and print magazines, she has been a featured guest on Voice of Truth radio, Enduring Word radio, television and podcasts. She is a history nerd, especially the Civil War, and adores making people laugh. She, her husband, and children live in Arkansas.