I don’t often reblog, but when I stumbled across this great resource of body language, I just had to share. I keep something similar in a word doc, which I always have open when writing. I promise to share, as soon as I have organized it a bit better đ
I find one of the most talked about topics in writing is âshow donât tellâ. It doesnât seem to matter how much I try not to I still do, and I also find myself repeating words or not describing actions well.
I stumbled on this list of body language for us to keep near us while writing.
he lowered his head
she hung her head
he ducked
she bowed her head
he covered his eyes with a hand
she pressed her hands to her cheeks
she raised her chin
he lifted his chin
her hands squeezed into fists
his hands tightened into fists
she clenched her fists
she balled her fists
he unclenched his fists
her arms remained at her sides
he shrugged
she gave a half shrug
he lifted his shoulder in a half shrug
she gave a dismissive wave of her hand
she raised a hand in greeting
heâŠ
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Nicholas C. Rossis 
Reading down that list, I can see that I have read all those countless times, but until today, have never even thought about the subject. (He pushed down on the arms of his office chair, to adjust his position in the seat as he typed…)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Lol – exactly đ
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Jen has quite a few lists that I enjoy browsing. This one was great.
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Oh, absolutely!
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I’ve downloaded this – great to have handy!
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Same here đ
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…He closed his eyes tight, pursing his lips to the left, when he realized he should have known from the beginning how to show these emotions.
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Lol – hanging head in shame đ
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Jumping over to continue reading, but I didn’t want to forget to show you some comment love. Thanks for sharing!
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Comment love is always much appreciated đ
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Thanks, Jen and Nicholas, for sharing this great information. đ
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It was rather good, wasn’t it? đ
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A comprehensive list indeed, but personally, with all due respect, I know that even if I record it somewhere, I’ll never use it. This made me chuckle actually, as I’ve done something similar. Seeing that one of my favourite authors, Kate Morton, seems to be the master at describing body gestures, I didn’t want to miss out so while reading one of her later books I kept jotting stuff down in a notepad and then typed it in a doc file. I got so pleased, thinking I’d be using it, but of course I never did. It’s just sitting there idle in my computer. Why? Because I picked up all that and so much more, simply from reading indie books avidly in the past year. Let’s not kid ourselves. No matter how many notes we may gather, the best way to pick things up is by reading. That’s why all the successful authors (Stephen King springs to mind!) can’t stress enough the importance of reading. We don’t give our brains enough credit. They were made to absorb information by repetition. I learned that first hand in my childhood when I studied English. By my late teens, words kept coming out of my mouth that I didn’t consciously remember learning. But they’d stuck from repetition naturally simply by reading English-speaking books, magazines or watching TV. Same principle applies to learning how to write gestures, actions, or anything else.
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I , too, write stuff down, but I actually use them đ
During first draft, I simple write down whatever comes to mind. When someone shrugs, I’ll just say, “she shrugged.”
During the edits, I’ll change many of these to actual beats. When I’m stuck and can’t think of a better beat than “she shrugged,” I refer to my notes. That seems to unblock me đ
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It’s a great list for reference, thank you Nicholas and Jen. We have to be very careful of clichĂ©s too – some body language descriptions have become very over-used despite a bit nonsensical. I say this, obviously, whilst looking at you from underneath my lashes. đ
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Ooh, can you bat them for me?
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I’m terrible at cricket, Nicholas, but anything for you đ
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ROFL – once again, well played đ
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