Comments on: Reading emotions – East vs. West

By: Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:50:24 +0000

Lisa – well, I accidentally on purpose wove it into my manuscript.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:15:18 +0000

This is SO cool. It never would have occurred to me, but I find it fascinating. I love that you’ve weaved it into your upcoming book!

By: Dara

Dara — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:03:13 +0000

Very interesting! The ironic thing–in my current WiP, it’s the eyes that my MC looks at for emotion, not the face. Weird!

I definitely need to save this for future reference, especially for my other WiP where it’s the East vs. West setup.

And I agree about the body language workshop for writers. I’d definitely attend one.

By: Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:30:14 +0000

Michelle,
We don’t have those in the US airport, but the fact that they have those overseas shows a better sense of public awareness. I’ll have to look for those if I’m ever traveling abroad.

A body language workshop for writers would be absolutely fascinating. Anyone know of one?

By: Michelle Styles

Michelle Styles — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:07:38 +0000

I am not surprised. One of the Body Language books I have goes on about cultral differences and how easy actions can be mis interpreted. For example, the amount of space you need around you to feel comfortable in a social sitiuation. Even hand gestures have different meanings in different cultures.

Think the HSBC ads in the airports (or perhaps they are not in the US airports?) about the different meanings and how you have to know which is which in which culture.

By: Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:34:18 +0000

I’ll have to check out that book Victoria. *sigh* The path of research is an endless one, isn’t it?

Susan, I’m glad the article was useful. I think we realize these things instinctively, but when they’re spelled out this way with research or observation, it helps strengthen our approach. Definitely a good thing to have in the back of my mind, even if it doesn’t show up explicitly on the page.

By: Victoria Dixon

Victoria Dixon — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:56:00 +0000

Excellent post, Jeannie Lin! Thank you. I linked to this and the article and also mentioned a book you and your readers might be interested in: “What Everybody Is Saying” by Joe Navarro.

Back to work, now. This potentially changes some things for my Amazon entry. Again. LOL

By: Susan Blumberg-Kason

Susan Blumberg-Kason — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:18:39 +0000

This is very interesting! Thanks so much for posting it! I’ve been writing about facial expressions in my memoir to show tension. I focus on pursed lips, and then move up to the furrowed brow when describing the main Chinese character in my manuscript. I’ll keep this in mind when my Chinese character interprets my character in other scenes. Very helpful! Thanks!