Writing the Body: How Physical Details Add Depth to Your Character

People often have complex relationships with their bodies. Our bodies, our bodily functions, illnesses, injuries, scars—these things often define us to other people. People make snap judgments about others based on their bodies because of their weight, age, visible disabilities, and so much more. 

Humans can have strong feelings about their bodies for a lot of reasons, and tapping into the complexity of these emotions can make for a richer narrative and a deeper connection with your reader. 

To bring a visceral feeling to your stories, consider adding small details about the way things feel which will create a physical experience for your reader. Does your main character have pain in their fingers when they write with a pencil? What about a weird squidgy feeling in their toes when someone tells a story about a gory injury? 

I have a friend who lost both her breasts to cancer, and she said she felt their weight years after. These are the small details that can bring your character to life. 

When you’re writing your characters, think about the way physicality is part of every aspect of life. We might have physical manifestations of grief, trauma, or mental health. If you have a main character who lives with depression, they might be tired or irritable, or perhaps they’re taking medicine that makes them extra hungry or not hungry at all. 

Anxiety can sometimes manifest as tightness in the chest or a skipped/rapid heartbeat, but it can also cause joint pain, backaches, sweating, or hot flashes. 

It might be cliché to say a character felt weak in the knees when they saw their crush, but falling in lust with someone does produce physical feelings akin to stress, so maybe your main character has a hot flash or gets sick to their stomach instead. 

If writing physical details doesn’t feel natural to you, consider adding these in revision. As you go through your story or manuscript, pick out areas where the character is showing emotion. What physical details might go along with the emotions?

Does your main character have any scars? Do they sometimes run a finger over the scar, absently even? How does it feel? Is the action reassuring to them, or does it remind them of the reason it's there?

Consider physical mannerisms. Do they talk with their hands, tilt their head in a certain way, or curl their toes when watching a scary movie? 

Specifically, think about how your characters feel about their own bodies. Are they proud of their scars? Do they carry themselves with confidence or do they hunch their shoulders in shame? Are they aware of how they might be perceived when walking into a room, based on the way they look? 

Tapping into your characters’ physicality and their own emotions surrounding their bodies can give your writing a sense of authenticity. And when readers forget about the words, they feel that character is alive. And when readers think of your characters as people, they can’t help but want to keep reading. And that is the key to great storytelling—keeping the reader reading.