Young Writers Society

I was looking over my notes and twiddling my thumbs when a thought occurred to me. How much emphasis do I put on the characters facial expression and body language? I know a lot of you will say when the opportunity arises but do you think there is the possibility of overdoing it? Please help!

There is most definitely a possibility of overdoing it. Unfortunately, there's not a good way to measure when it's being overdone. But, I'd say if the mentions of facial expression and body language become so numerous that it starts to detract from the actual story--then it's too much.

One good way to avoid overdoing it is to concentrate on the important, insightful expressions and body language and not just right down every little thing. But picking out the details that help define a character, or establish meaning, etc.--that's worthy of being written down, same as other story details.

And another thing to consider is your viewpoint character. Some people are more observant than others, some people care more about someone's reaction than others. You can use this to your advantage. Maybe you have a character who doesn't notice another character's subtle signs of anger. Or a character who thinks another character is happy just because s/he smiles all the time. Or maybe you have a character who's very good at reading body language and is always picking up on small movements.

So... know your characters, know your scene--and write it. Write it and read it aloud to yourself. If it sounds like too much description spent on expression and body language, it probably is.