How Body Language Can Help Create Subtext in Your Writing

 

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One of the things a writer can use for subtext in their writing is body language, and if there is anything I know a thing or two about, it’s body language.

 

As a person who is deaf, I have paid a lot of attention to body language. When I am in situations where people are speaking but I have no idea what they are saying, it’s their body language and facial expressions I pay attention to instead. Do they tense up as they speak? Are they clenching their fists? Shifting their weight? Do they hunch their shoulders in disappointment or sadness, or are they standing taller with a burst of excitement?

 

I can’t hear their voices, so this gives me a chance to gauge what they are feeling as they speak, and how they may be speaking.

 

On the other hand, a person’s body language can also reveal what they are NOT saying, or how they are communicating with someone.

 

As someone with social anxiety, it’s hard for me to make eye contact with people. This is especially true when I am busy trying to read their lips so I must look at their lips as they speak instead of their eyes (I make up for this by trying to make eye contact with them when it’s my turn to talk). So it bothers me a lot that there’s ALL of this expectation resting on making eye contact as to whether or not you can trust or respect that person, but there is a lot to be said about eye contact.

 

For example, on whether or not someone is being honest.

 

The thing about eye contact is that it’s not easy for people to do this if they are lying. Yes, some people can look you straight in the eye while they are lying, but for most people, it doesn’t happen when they are lying. This is especially true when they “nervously look away” or “shuffle their feet and look down as they replied.”

 

In one scene of a story I wrote, a character responds to someone’s question with a lie while he is looking at something that seems to catch his attention on the wall. A plain wall.

 

And while we’re on faces, facial expressions are another thing I notice when I read a person’s body language. Are they smiling as they talk? Perhaps they are saying something funny. Are they rolling their eyes? Throwing in a look of surprise? Reacting to something with alarm? These are things which tell me more about what they might be saying or what they might be talking about.

 

Then there is the way a person reacts to surprise noises while they are talking.

 

There was one time I was talking to my toddler. In the middle of the conversation, she shook with surprise and looked behind her.

 

“Did you hear something?” I asked.

 

She nodded and said, “Big truck.”

 

Other examples are when someone immediately takes off running in the middle of a conversation (maybe they heard an alarm?) or they hold up their hand for a pause because they heard their phone go off.

 

Sometimes, the cues we notice when talking with people may hint at things the person may not want to say. A person may be uncomfortable talking about something when they seem to cringe or respond with one-word answers to questions. Or someone may not feel safe while talking, or talking about something, because they are constantly looking around to see if the coast is clear or they may be responding with nods, gestures or a shake of the head. A person might be angry about something or someone they are forced to talk about, and this will show when they clench their fists or hunch their shoulders, or they might be too sad to talk about something because doing so makes them tear up. Sometimes, we have to use a little detective work to figure out the subtext of communication with others. Body language can help, but so does how a person communicates by the words they choose to say.

 

Body language can tell us all kinds of things about a conversation, but it’s also good for providing clues for the things we might not be picking up on in what or how a person responds. Keep this in mind when you write, and see how you can put body language to use to achieve subtext in your writing.