A way with worlds: 42 - Without Words

You've got your own (or borrowed) world. You know the language. It's so well designed it'd put Tolkein to shame. You've got terms, you've got slang, you've got speech patterns. Your world has communications!

No, it doesn't. Not completely.

Language, speech, is just one method of communication, and there are many more methods. In designing your world, its inhabitants, its cultures, and in writing your stories you have to deal with non-verbal communication as well.

This is also important in writing. People do not just stand around and speak (though in some stories it may read that way). They gesture, they look for clues in a person's eyes, they wear clothes to give people a certain impression. Writing people is more than writing about what they say.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but so can a gesture, a symbol, or an expression. Below are common areas of non-verbal communication you'll want to deal with in designing your settings.

INVOLUNTARY ACTIONS:
Blushing, stammering, turning pale - all forms of communication even if we'd rather they not happen.

Our bodies communicate a number of ways that our minds are not necessarily involved in. Sometimes we can control these reactions, sometimes we can't - and characters may vary in what sets off these involuntary actions and if they can suppress them.

If you're designing non-human races, be aware of these kinds of communication as well. An alien's tentacles may twitch when he's nervous, or a fish-person's gills turn blue when he's embarrassed. Learning these involuntary actions can even be a vital part of some stories.

GESTURES:
We've heard the term "speaking with our hands," and if you think about it, gestures can play an enormous part of communications. Peace signs, shaking hands, putting a finger to one's lips to indicate silence, winking knowingly - all forms of communication.

Gestures, like words, can vary widely between different cultures, but all are simply using more than the mouth to communicate information. Watch people in a conversation for a few minutes and notice how much is said by gesture. Also, if there are people who gesture's give away too much they may try to restrain themselves as gesture verges on an involuntary action.

EXPRESSION:
Gesture's cousin and sister to involuntary actions. We rely on expressions a great deal, but we rarely think of them. A smile, a frown, a snarl can say a great deal. Some may be deliberate, some may not be.

Humans are very facially-oriented. Indeed, one of my hobbies is learning to draw, and I started with the human face. The level of detail on one face is amazing, even in simple styles - on one face you have a mouth (with lips and teeth), two eyes, two eyebrows, and skin that can turn a variety of shades.