Some of our favorite times in the car are with our family
listening to books on tape. As we follow CSU Pueblo’s football games around the
country, we listen and analyze these books.
Last week in the car, we were listening to a well-known
author. I said maybe you’re better off not knowing anything so you can just
enjoy the book. The writer wrote she
sipped her coffee with tightly squinted eyes. I didn’t know you could drink
coffee with your eyes. Then the eyes dropped to the floor and looked around.
The eyes need to stay in her head.
And those tags are so distracting. They break the cadence. Today,
you don’t write tags like she says, he says. You have to write it in the voice
of the character so there is no question who is saying what. If the writer says
one more time, “Tim died,” I’m going to scream. How many times is she going to
tell the same story? I get it.
My daughter said to me, “Well, listen to you, Old Smarty
Pants. The author writes a good story and I used to read all her books, but I
quit reading them because she is so redundant.”
Of course this famous writer has been in the business for
thirty years. But, today the editors would not take her as a new author. She
can get by with it because people buy her books and she has sold millions of
books.
I’ve told my children I have grown as a writer. It was an
abstract statement to them and I don’t think they believed me or took me
serious. On this trip, my kids were
impressed, almost shocked with how much I’ve learned over the last few years
honing the craft of writing and spending hours and hours with my editor friend.
I told my kids that my editor friend would not let me get by
with this sloppy writing. Thank God she won’t. That’s why my second book is
held up because of editing. We’ve gone through each line, each sentence, each
paragraph, and each chapter by chapter.
Apparently I haven’t learned enough. When she read a scene
in my book, she said to me, “Libby just asked Frank to do something, he agreed
but he put his hands in his pockets. Frank just said by his body language, “I
don’t want to do it.” Did Frank want to do it? I said of course he wanted to do
it. She said you’re not saying that.
Then in another scene the sheriff came up and saw the
pregnant girl. My friend said to me, have him do something. I said, I’ve had
him adjust his gun in his holster, hold his pad, write something, ask
questions, but I’m not sure what else he could do. She said, “Have the sheriff
put his hand over his belt buckle. When a man sees a pregnant woman, he will
put his hand over his belt buckle.
Are you kidding me? Wow! I didn’t know that. Does other
people know that?
She said, “Watch and see.” Then she gave me a lesson in
biology.
I said to her, I’ve got to Google Body Language. I can’t
believe I’m almost finished with this second novel and I’ve got to go back
through and check it out. I’m sure my characters are not saying what they need
to be saying with their actions. I thought dialogue was sufficient.
Google has become my best friend. This is what I learned.
There is an accurate way of seeing people’s thoughts, emotions or moods by
reading their body language. People speak about 75% through their bodies. For
example, if a person has a habit of touching his or her nose, people could
perceive it as a sign of deception. They are interpreting that gesture as
untrustworthy. You could think they are telling the truth, but they are lying
because of how their body is acting.
I Googled Body Language. There are a lot of sites on dating
and how to act when you want someone to notice you. I’m not planning to enter
the dating scene any time soon and hopefully never. But if I’m going to get
these characters right, I’m going to have to learn how to act when dating. Oh
me. It’s always another learning curve.
In a dating scene when a woman inspects a man over her
shoulder with curiosity, she’s checking him out and saying I’m interested. He
looks back over his shoulder at her and he’s saying, I’m checking you out, too.
I’m also interested.
Another site showed a few movie star couples and how they
stand next to each other. The writer of the article claimed how they stand
beside each other will tell how long they will be together as a couple.
One of my favorites was Tom Arnold, he had his girlfriend in
a body clutch. His arm was around her and his knuckles were white in a tight
hold. The writer said it wouldn’t last and he was right.
Final Brushstroke! I need to get these body parts right and my
character’s body language acting right since they are saying more than I
thought. My characters are fictional, but apparently they are talking out of
school and telling on me. It’s time to get some more schooling.