Writing and the Body
Instruction for writing full-bodied narrative
Write like you are a body, not a robot
Often, you’ll see instructions about the craft of writing that sound like we are all disembodied brains attached by wires to fingers typing away. But storytelling has historically involved obvious embodiment, such as the oral tradition of speaking directly to people, using gestures and expressions, changing the tone of voice, looking them in the eyes; dramas are obviously employing full physicality. Plays existed long before novels. We seek out movies and TV usually more often than reading, as a culture, and that sensation of immersion in the senses, seeing people also interacting with their bodies.
Show don’t tell with immersion in the senses
That’s why it’s good to include vivid detail in your writing about how characters feel and react with their bodies and what they do in relation to their environment. That’s how showing rather than telling is created. What props do they handle? What does the weather do to them? Do they have a tight throat, a crease they can feel forming between the eyebrows, a desire to breathe bigger than they ever have before?
And there are other ways to involve the body more fully as you write besides the descriptive subject matter. Make sure…
