Writing Nonverbal Communication

Breanna Call
17 hours ago
7 min read

Learn how to format thoughts, imagined dialogue, mouthed words, and more.

Man and woman sitting on black leather couch while talking to each other. Photo by RDNE Stock Project on Pexels. — Photo Credit: RDNE Stock project

The characters in your novels, similarly, will experience many kinds of communication, verbal and nonverbal. It is important to accurately portray each kind of communication, so your readers understand how your characters are communicating in their book world.

Verbal communication is placed in quotation marks, as explained in our tip “How to Punctuate Dialogue.”

But what about nonverbal communication? How should we punctuate and format that? Unlike verbal communication, there are fewer clear-cut rules to nonverbal communication. However, there are common practices and trends. For our purposes, we’ll follow the guidelines in The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition and Amy J. Schneider’s The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction.

Whether to italicize, use quotation marks, or use a comma to introduce the phrase all depends on the type of nonverbal communication we’re using. Let’s take a look:

1. Thoughts

A common type of nonverbal communication is thoughts. There are two kinds of thoughts: direct and indirect.

Direct thought: When the character is thinking.

Indirect thought: When the narrator is telling the character’s thoughts.

Direct thoughts can be formatted in a few ways, as we discuss in our tip “How to Write Thoughts in Fiction.” The modern convention that writers and publishers largely follow is to italicize the thoughts. A comma (or sometimes other punctuation like a question mark) is used to separate the thought from the thought tag.

Jenny picked up the white sheet of paper. “So this is the contract?” she said.

“It is,” Danny said. I hope she doesn’t look too closely at it, he thought.

Jenny’s hands shook with anger. Is he joking? she thought. “There’s a zero missing in the salary, right?”

Indirect thought is always formatted in roman.

Jenny picked up the white sheet of paper. “So this is the contract?” she said.

“It is,” Danny said. He hoped she didn’t look too closely at it.

Jenny’s hands shook with anger. She thought he had to be joking. “There’s a zero missing in the salary, right?”

Notice how indirect thought is not the character thinking in real-time but rather the narrator telling the reader what the character is thinking.

2. Imagined Dialogue

Imagined dialogue is normally italicized. Some authors use roman with quotation marks, but italics more accurately shows that nothing is actually being spoken.

What I wanted most of all was to hear her say I’m ready for whatever you are.

The baby looked at the new babysitter and cried as if saying “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Note that there is no comma between the imagined dialogue and the rest of the sentence because the imagined dialogue is not actually spoken or thought. But do notice that the imagined dialogue starts with a capital letter.

3. Body Language

Whether an expression or gesture, we often communicate through body language. In writing, your characters should be doing the same. So how do we write what a character is trying to say through a look? Or how another character is interpreting that look? For any supposed dialogue from body language, put the interpretation of the look or action in quotation marks and start with a capital letter.

I looked at her like “Are you kidding?”

My mother gave me a look that said “You better clean your room this instant!”

Alonzo’s body language screamed “We are so done” as we scaled the side of the cliff.

Note there is no comma introducing the interpretation of the body language because no one is actually speaking.

4. Mouthed Words

Though mouthed words aren’t heard, mouthing is considered dialogue because it is being communicated in the moment. So, we would use a comma to introduce the mouthed phrase. The first letter is also capitalized. Because mouthed words aren’t spoken aloud, they are usually put in italics. Although, some authors do set them in roman with quotation marks.

“Do you know how to get out of here?” I asked.

Kellan mouthed, Find the key.

As we turned in circles on the dance floor, Iris mouthed, “I love you.”

5. Recalled Dialogue

Writing about remembering dialogue can be tricky because at one point the dialogue was spoken. But we have to remember that when a character recalls a conversation, it isn’t actually being spoken in the moment.

There are a few options to handle it: It’s normally formatted in italics but can also be roman in quotation marks or italics in quotation marks. Because the recalled words aren’t being spoken in the moment, there is no comma introducing them.

I remembered my grandfather’s last words: Don’t open the box.

Bianca was very calculated. She would look you up and down and then say “You’re hiding something from me.”

Yesterday, when Mrs. Scherbel said “I would read over chapter three again,” was she hinting at a pop quiz?

It’s also important to mention that brief flashbacks, no longer than a paragraph or two, can be set in italics, but any longer than this, and the italics can be difficult to read.

6. Telepathic Dialogue

Telepathic dialogue is similar to imagined dialogue except that it is being directed toward someone or something. It is usually formatted in italics. But it can be set in roman in quotation marks or italics in quotation marks with written cues that indicate it is telepathic communication.

Wait for me, she said.

“I can’t open the force field,” Sirrea told me telepathically.

As we made our way down the corridor, the server’s voice rang in our minds, saying, “Access denied.”

Note that even though the words aren’t being spoken aloud, they are being spoken and heard in the mind. This means we count it as dialogue and use a comma to introduce it. We also start with a capital letter.

7. Writing

When a character writes something down, it is formatted in roman with quotation marks. Because nothing is being spoken, there is no comma to introduce it.

Jamie wrote “Don’t you dare tell a soul” on the scrap of paper, and then he slid it toward Isla.

Rose scratched out the words “Rose, Kate, and Ben were here April 2025” on the tree trunk.

8. Electronic Communication

Emailing, texting, messaging, and the like are prevalent in our modern-day lives, and your characters will likely use these forms of communication too. Brief messages of this kind can be placed in quotation marks. This is common practice for messages that run in line with the rest of the text.

The message from Helena read “If you think you can get away with this, think again.”

There is no comma to introduce the text message because it is not being spoken.

For messages that are longer or that have an ongoing conversation, it is better to format them differently from the main body of the text. Speaker tags are replaced with the name of the speaker. Chicago 12.50 says to format messages by placing the speaker name in parentheses with the message following it in italics.

(Me) Almost here?

(Kate) Not quite

(Me) We’re waiting on you.

(Kate) KK hurrying

However, authors are given creative liberty when it comes to these kinds of messaging. A popular trend is to format them to look similar to messages on electronic devices by placing them in a bubble. Here is an example from Jess Jefferies’s book Bumping into You.

Snippet of the book "Bumping into You" by Jess Jefferies showing text bubbles. Gwen: How far away are you? Mom: I don't know, like 5 hours away? Narrated text: Five hours? Let me think. Okay, there are about six hours left before the set cruise departure time. That's cutting it a bit close for my taste, but if they don't make any stops until they get here, it should work out. Text bubble labeled Gwen: Ok, you can still get here in time. Just don't stop for anything, not even a fast bathroom break. You cannot miss this cruise!

Voicemail, audio recordings, videos, and the like can also be formatted in a number of ways. If it is easy to distinguish the electronic dialogue from other dialogue, both can be set in quotation marks and left in roman. On the other hand, if the electronic dialogue needs to be more distinguishable from regular dialogue, it can be set in italics. If it is listened to in the moment, a comma should introduce it.

Emmy sat down to watch the video her mother left her before she passed away. Her mother appeared on the screen. She smiled and said, “I love you, sweet pea.”

Emmy pulled her sweater tight around her. “I love you too, Mom.”

Santiago, Pedro, and Sam gathered around the phone. Sam pushed play on the voicemail. “Do you think we got home in time?”

“We better have,” said Pedro.

“This is Mrs. Alvarez speaking,” the voicemail started.

“She did leave a message.” Santiago chewed his fingers.

“Sam was not at school today . . .”

Pedro looked at Sam. “Quick, delete it before Mom finds out.”

“Go ahead,” said Santiago.

“ . . . or yesterday. Would you come into my office tomorrow at—”

Sam pressed the Delete button.

Remember, the most important part of writing nonverbal communication accurately is helping your readers understand the context of each communication method in the story. Consider current trends but also take into account your specific story and how nonverbal communication could most effectively be formatted. And then be consistent—stick to the formatting you choose and tell your editor the choices you have made. Your manuscript will be that much more polished for it.

The Published Examples

Book cover of Blood of Wonderland by Colleen Oakes.

Dinah gave a wry laugh. “To keep me out? What an idea. I have no intention of ever going back there. I’ll be killed the moment I appear in Wonderland proper! I will never see the palace again.” Or Harris. Or the beautiful stained-glass heart that sits outside my mother’s room, the one that shades the world in red.

(Oakes, Colleen. Blood of Wonderland. HarperCollins, 2017.)

Dinah’s thoughts are formatted in italics. They are easily distinguished next to her spoken dialogue formatted in roman inside quotation marks.

Book cover of Not a Thing by Susan Henshaw.

Google Savannah Clark was the last thing Lemon said as I got in my car to leave Dupree Ranch. But the look on her face was almost as pained as Holden’s had been when he’d walked away.

(Henshaw, Susan. Not a Thing. Firefly Fields, 2024)

The recalled dialogue is set in italics with no comma separating it from the rest of the sentence.

Book cover of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

She stopped short of saying more; to suggest too much of a future outside the fight was dangerous. You had to be present in the now to kill. “It’s you and me,” she finished.

“You and me,” Thurwar mouthed back.

(Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame. Chain Gang All Stars. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2023.)

Though Schneider suggests formatting mouthed words in italics, Adjei-Brenyah formatted her mouthed words in roman with quotation marks. This is a great example of picking a formatting method that reads well with surrounding text and throughout the novel.

Book cover of Atom Bomb Baby by Brandon Gillespie.

“The recording sounded garbled—probably damaged from the years in the water and silt—but not so far gone you couldn’t hear what was said.

It began with some labored breathing, then a woman started, “This is Mei Tamura. The rocket is damaged, and this landing is going to be hard.”

(Gillespie, Brandon. Atom Bomb Baby. Protos, 2024.)

This audio recording is being listened to in the moment, so we use a comma to introduce it. The audio dialogue is set in quotation marks but is also italicized to distinguish it from regular dialogue.