The Writer's Body Lexicon: Body Parts, Actions, and Expressions

by Kathy Steinemann, Nada Sobhi (Foreword)

Ordinary writers describe the body in order to evoke images in readers’ minds. Extraordinary writers leverage it to add elements such as tension, intrigue, and humor.

The Writer’s Body Lexicon provides tools for both approaches.

Kathy Steinemann provides a boggling number of word choices and phrases for body parts, organized under similar sections in most chapters:

•Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations
•Adjectives
•Similes and Metaphors
•Colors and Variegations
•Scents
•Shapes
•Verbs and Phrasal Verbs
•Nouns
•Prompts
•Clichés and Idioms

Sprinkled throughout, you’ll also find hundreds of story ideas. They pop up in similes, metaphors, word lists, and other nooks and crannies.

Readers don’t want every character to be a cardboard cutout with a perfect physique. They prefer real bodies with imperfections that drive character actions and reactions — bodies with believable skin, scents, and colors.

For instance, a well-dressed CEO whose infrequent smile exposes poorly maintained teeth might be on the verge of bankruptcy. A gorgeous cougar with decaying teeth, who tells her young admirer she’s rich, could spook her prey. Someone trying to hide a cigarette habit from a spouse might be foiled by nicotine stains.

Add depth to your writing. Rather than just describe the body, exploit it. Build on it. Mold it until it becomes an integral part of your narrative.

“… a timeless resource: You’ll find advice, prompts, ideas, vocabulary, humor, and everything in between. But more importantly, it will make your characters stand out from the crowd.” — Nada Sobhi

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction

506 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 30, 2020

About the author

Kathy Steinemann, Grandma Birdie to her grandkids, lives near the Rocky Mountains in the land of Atwood and Shatner and Bieber. A writer and retired editor, she loves words, especially when those words are frightening or futuristic or funny.

Her career has taken varying directions, including positions as editor of a small-town paper, computer-network administrator, and webmaster. She has also worked on projects in commercial art and cartooning.

Join her at KathySteinemann.com for word lists, how tos, and sometimes irreverent reviews of writing rules.

Reviews

[D.G. Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you thought you knew words, you're in for a big treat with this almost 500 pages of action-packed book full of alternative words and phrases to make your characters come alive and help readers create believable characters. How many ways can we express body parts, gestures, prompts and humor? Steinemann will arm you better than any thesaurus.

The author expanded her blog post of lessons for writers and created this absolute must-have resource guide, aiding in better descriptive writing in this 3rd and comprehensive book in her Lexicon series for writers. We'll also find words that keep the action going as well as idea replacements for similes and metaphors that AREN'T cliche, with loads of examples under each body part heading. Steinemann helps writers to choose appropriate adjectives and verb tenses - eg: If you say your character has tanned arms while the setting takes place in winter, you've used the wrong adjective unless a reason is presented for the tanned arms. The author demonstrates how to eliminate unnecessary words with suggested word replacement. Plenty of prompts are also given as well as: opinion words explained, hyphen use, how to incorporate color, use of props for description, use of word variation pertaining to the character's description - example: you may use the word 'porky' for a bully, but the word wouldn't go over well if a husband were to refer to his wife with such word.

This book is a fantastic edition to describe all parts of the body from head to toe, also offering ideas to set up a character chart to list all attributes of characters, ie: shapes, appearance, flesh tone, etc. Each chapter begins with descriptions, examples of word usage. Steinemann also talks about caveats, eg: perception of the writer's view needs to be made clear for readers. The writer may know what she means to relay being privy to the character's thoughts, but make sure the reader is informed too.

The Writer's Body Lexicon is succinctly written into sections for each body part, covering verbs, variegation of color, shapes, idioms, cliches, metaphors, similes, comparisons and more. A must-have resource guide for all writers!

[Chris Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Writer's Body Lexicon: Body Parts, Actions, and Expressions by Kathy Steinemann, in the third book in The Writer's Lexicon Series. All three are excellent, and this third one is much thicker and even more useful.

So many interesting words and phrases, and more. Only just shy at 500 pages, it’s a canon of fabulous body parts, and of course I am sure that everyone would open the ‘naughty bits’ first. However, there are just links and rightly so.

Each bit of the body begins with one or more famous people who have a particular way of doing something. Throughout there are various characters who appear over the body parts, they are very useful to explain what they are up to. I have to say that I enjoyed the ‘toes’ the best, even though I could never wear high heels let alone stilettos (or maybe I was talking about a particular knife). Anyway, that weighty book has been, and still is, worth it. The three of them still sit on my desk, just on the left. Always useful!

Highly recommended for every wordsmith around the world.

[Nada Sobhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Writer's Body Lexicon: Body Parts, Actions, and Expressions by Kathy Steinemann in the third book in The Writer's Lexicon Series. Each book offers a wealth of information to help writers write and edit their books.

This review is loooong overdue. I read The Writer's Body Lexicon before it was published and had the honor to write its Foreword. :)

The book opens with a "Read this First" section, which explains how to use the book and where readers can find what they need.

Like many books about writing, The Writer's Body Lexicon is an encyclopedia-like volume. It will be very hard to read it all at once or as if you're reading a novel.

"Sometimes a figure of speech adds the perfect touch. Exercise caution, though. Provide enough imagery to stimulate the imagination, but not so much that you slow action or bore readers."

To get the most of The Writer's Body Lexicon, determine what area of the body you need help with and look it up.

Regardless of the book or blog post you're reading, Kathy Steinemann will always point out that you don't need to "bloat your writing with superfluous words."
"Note that a frown on one’s face can be shortened to a frown. No point in bloating your writing with superfluous words."

The Writer's Body Lexicon covers everything from opinion adjectives, stacked modifiers and how to arrange them, colors and variegations, facial expressions, body parts (and the naughty bits), and much much more!

I also like Steinemann's use of other authors' quotes in The Writer's Body Lexicon. She quotes Ovid and Stephen King and offers writing tips from them.

“Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Overdescription buries him or her in details and images.” – Stephen King

If you're writing a fantasy novel with muscled-warriors, you should definitely check out the "Body Build Cheat Sheet" chapter. (p. 86)

And don't forget the part about the abs, here's a tip from Steinemann:
"Abs, abdomen, stomach, waist, midsection … No matter what you call this area of the body or how you describe it, well-chosen words will strengthen your writing.
Abs often occupy center stage in romance novels. They also appear in historical fiction where scantily clad gladiators compete for their lives. And let’s not forget bikini-wearing beach beauties stalked by monsters in horror stories."

If facial expressions are your weak spot – I know they are mine – you may want to visit the relevant chapter. As an author, you don't want your reader to tire of repetition. Sometimes you don't need a facial expression where the dialogue suffices.

I was recently reading a book where the main character "raised her eyebrows" over 35 times! You can imagine how exasperated I was while reading it.

As a reader, I see lots of 'eyebrow raising' and 'nodding' and 'eyes widening.' So before you get your book published be sure to check out the chapter on Facial Expressions. Hint: It starts on p. 45.

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.” – Ovid

Although Steinemann offers hundreds of word options and descriptive alternatives in each chapter, she also encourages writers to create their own words like "flubbery = flabby + blubbery" or "brawnilicious = brawny + delicious"

Steinemann goes on to offer suggestions and indicators for writers to use when they want to create a descriptive and emotional scene. In the section "Effective Writing Agrees with Itself," Steinemann says this:

"In real life, scowls, smiles, and curling lips reflect underlying emotions. They should do the same in fiction or creative nonfiction.
A protagonist in pain is unlikely to smile. A deceitful character probably won’t maintain eye contact with others."

A tip: You want to read the section on colors and variegations starting p. 32.
There are soooo many useful tips in The Writer's Body Lexicon, I feel like I can quote the whole book! And it's over 500 pages.

Authors: You no longer have to say 'said' every time a character says something. Steinemann has over 200 alternatives to 'said' and many other verbs in The Writer's Lexicon.

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may know Kathy Steinemann by her other excellent writer help books, The Writer's Lexicon VI and II (click for my reviews). In this her latest book, the 500+ page The Writer's Body Lexicon (2020), Steinemann focuses on one of the more difficult parts of writing for authors: describing the human body in a way that brings it to life.

She begins the book with what she calls the 'Body Build Cheat Sheet'. Here, she helps you describe the human body's appearance, weight, height, physique, and conditioning, including metaphors that bring them to life:

"His body was his weapon, plowing through the players until he reached the goal."

Under 'Body Parts', she includes in part:

* arms, legs, backs, buttocks, chests, breasts, chins, ears, elbows, noses, and more
* abs
* body parts: the Naughty Bits
* breaths and breathing
* colors--how to write them so they are interesting
* facial expressions
* voices

In each section, she includes a thorough discussion of everything about them from the perspective of someone who must write it. Let's take 'arms' for example. Steinemann includes:

* emotion beats and physical manifestations such as aggression, alarm, distrust, and satisfaction
* adjectives describing arms
* similes and metaphors for arms
* colors and variegations
* arm scents
* arm shapes
* the versatility of verbs and phrasal verbs
* props for arms
* cliches and idioms (like 'babe in arms' and 'shot in the arm')

That's amazing, don't you think? But there's more. She also digs into opinion adjectives, the descriptive words that "...express the personal bias of a character or the narrator, a bias that may not be shared by everyone." These are adjectives to be aware of in case you want to avoid them, depending upon your audience. In this highly-charged, politically-correct world, this was one of my favorite parts.

If you want your characters' bodies to go beyond the narrative of appearance, to become a vehicle to build tension, intrigue, and humor, this book tells you how to do that with word choices and phrases organized under clear categories.

Who should buy this book? Writers of course but also bibliophiles, sesquipedalians (like me), and anyone who considers themselves a logomaniac--a person obsessively interested in words. It officially publishes July 1, 2020 at a discount for the first month or so. Grab a copy and feel your writer power grow.

[Peggy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Body know!

This book is a good reference for writers to list out details you need when describing what's going on with a character. It's easy to use a quick check gives you what you need.

[B. AGHA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, as usual for the whole series. A good reference for all authors.

[Stuart Aken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled ‘Body Parts, Actions, and Expressions’ this book was written by the author in response to requests from followers of her blog, where she features articles about language use and its improvement of the skillsets available to writers.
Under the introductive ‘Read This First’ section, she explains how chapters are organised, defines in useful detail the various terms used, and lists the abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the book.
Each chapter is divided into several sections: ‘Emotional Beats and Physical Manifestations’, ‘Adjectives’, ‘Similes and Metaphors’, ‘Colors and Variegations’, ‘Scents’, ‘Shapes’, ‘The Versatility of Verbs and Phrasal Verbs’, ‘Nouns’, ‘Props’, ‘Clichés and Idioms’, and ‘Story Prompts’. And each chapter houses extensive listed suggestions of words to use. So you can see this is a comprehensive manual, and guide to choosing the exact word you seek when trying to convey a particular point to your readers.
The first chapter deals with ‘Opinion Adjectives’, a term which may be unfamiliar to some. These are descriptors that reflect the bias of a character or narrator. Kathy gives examples and explains how their use can influence the reader’s understanding of the character thus described. For example, one narrator may describe a character as a ‘fantastic’ or ‘talented’ dancer, where another, for personal reasons, may describe the same character as ‘bumbling’ or ‘amateurish’ when dancing. The reader may then be confused as to the reality, which might be what the writer intended, or the two narrators may simply be giving honest opinions determined by experience, level of knowledge, and their personal feelings toward that character. So much, of course, depends on pov (point of view, if you don’t know). She expands on this aspect of writing, explaining the potential positives and negatives that may result.
The next chapter looks at ‘Stacked Modifiers’. For those who don’t know, those are lists of descriptors for a noun. The author explains the recognised sequence of such lists, why it’s important to stick to that order, and why you should limit the number of modifiers used.
The next chapter deals with ‘Colors and Variegations’, using a different subsection for each of twelve specified colours. Then comes ‘Facial Expressions’, which is subdivided into ‘Effective Writing Agrees with Itself’, ‘Frowns’, and ‘Smiles’.
There follow the chapters on individual body parts, with a list of twenty-eight different physical bits of the body.
Kathy deliberately excludes what she calls the ‘Naughty Bits’ from these extensive chapters, perhaps aware of the dreaded ‘thumbed dictionary’ synbdrome where teenagers have concentrated on rude words. Instead, she includes links to various websites where the reader will find ample lists of alternatives for the body parts most frequently embellished in erotic and some romantic prose and poetry. In the digital version of the book, these links whisk explorers straight to the nub. Those who prefer paper as their reading material will have to make the effort of turning on their chosen instrument of connection to the modern world and entering the appropriate URL.
There’s a final chapter on ‘Breaths and Breathing’, something we do autonomously, but that can cause banality in descriptive writing if we’re not alert to the clichés.
The book presents its information in an accessible, logical, and sometimes humorous manner, with light examples of misuse and much encouragement to experiment with expression. I’m using it now, as I complete my final edit of the WIP (work in progress) prior to my publisher setting his team of editors on it, in the hope of enhancing the reading experience for those who indulge me in buying it.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while to get through this book partly because it’s long at 497 pages, but also because I took my time reading only a chapter per day. The author offers an extensive list of word options to describe things like color, breathing, and body parts, of course. At the beginning, the author acknowledges the book’s repetition as she doesn’t anticipate writers to read the book from cover to cover.

I did so because, as expected, many chapters prompted ideas for character development in a novel I’m currently working on. While I didn’t agree with all of the ideas listed, the book does provide a solid foundation. As the author notes at the end, there are many other sources for word choices and she encourages writers to look beyond the offerings here. This is a good idea, although I certainly welcome this useful book to my library of resources.