When Characters Lie

I’ve been burning a lot of midnight oil lately, in the name of research. Okay, that’s a lie–I’ve been watching a lot of TV. I have a new favorite show, Lie to Me, on FOX (and yes, I posted about this show last week, too). Thanks to Netflix, I’ve wasted away many hours catching up on the previous two seasons of the show. But I think maybe I can justify it as research, and here’s why.

The premise of Lie to Me is that a scientist named Dr. Cal Lightman, after years of research, can now act as a human lie detector by reading people’s faces and body language. He watches for what he calls “micro-expressions.” These can be minute and quick–curls of the lip, shakes of the head, twitches of fingers, shifting of the eyes. Sometimes lies are obvious. Sometimes they are subtle and compelling.

How can this be research to a fiction writer? What a character says in dialogue is often less important than what he doesn’t say. We can speak volumes through our actions–painting a vivid picture of what is going on behind our words.

Lie to Me is teaching me to think carefully about expressions and mannerisms. Frequently during the show, Lightman will point at another character and say in his charming British accent, “Did’ya see that? See that eyebrow? He’s lying, he is.” So now, I find that as I’m writing dialogue, I’m thinking about how my characters appear instead of just what’s coming out of their mouths. If Dorothy detests Max, she may say, “Yes, I have the utmost respect for the man.” But her actions could say differently: her lips twitch, her finger scratches her nose and she subtly shakes her head as she speaks. Which should the reader believe? The subtle differences between her words and actions adds tension to the scene.

Author Brandilyn Collins has a wonderful chapter about this in her book Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors. In secret number three (subtexting) she explains, “As an actor interprets the subtext through such means as gestures and facial expressions, the lines become layered with meaning, often far deeper than what is actually spoken. They express a character’s strengths, weaknesses, passions. They bare a human soul.”

So, the next time you observe two people having a discussion, take a moment to observe. What are they saying? What are they not saying? How do they look? How do their expressions change as they are speaking? What are their hands doing?

But be careful. You may just learn something that you weren’t really supposed to know.