What Exactly is Your Elbow Saying?

Plumbers & pipe wrenches. Butchers & knives. Every tradesman has their tool of the trade, so what about writers? What sharp and shiny instrument do they get to wield?

Body language.

Yep. There's not a situation in a book where body language cannot and should not be used. It's so important, you should think of it as another character. This little tool puts the squeeze on showing vs. telling every time.

Need a few of these Craftsmen beauties in your toolbox? Grab what you like and tuck it away for later use.

• Overly tilted heads can be a sign of sympathy. Add in a smile and they're being playful or flirting.
• A lowered head indicates they're hiding something. If that head lowering follows a compliment, they're either shy, ashamed, timid, in disbelief, or keeping distance from the other person.
• People who look to the sides a lot are nervous, lying, or distracted.
• Looking at the floor is a tip-off they're timid, upset, or trying to hid something emotional.
• Brushing back their hair with their fingers is a fidgety sign that the person likes you and/or their thoughts conflict with what you're saying.
• A fast tapping, shifting of weight, laughing, or movement of the foot shows either impatience, excitement, anxiety, fear or that they're intimidated.

And those are just a few. Hungry for more? Check out this extensive list at wikiHOW.