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How to Write the Body of an Essay | Drafting & Redrafting

Published on November 5, 2014 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

The body is the longest part of an essay . This is where you lead the reader through your ideas, elaborating arguments and evidence for your thesis . The body is always divided into paragraphs .

You can work through the body in three main stages:

  • Create an  outline of what you want to say and in what order.
  • Write a first draft to get your main ideas down on paper.
  • Write a second draft to clarify your arguments and make sure everything fits together.

This article gives you some practical tips for how to approach each stage.

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Table of contents

Start with an outline, write the first draft, write the second draft, other interesting articles.

Before you start, make a rough outline that sketches out the main points you want to make and the order you’ll make them in. This can help you remember how each part of the essay should relate to the other parts.

However, remember that  the outline isn’t set in stone – don’t be afraid to change the organization if necessary. Work on an essay’s structure begins before you start writing, but it continues as you write, and goes on even after you’ve finished writing the first draft.

While you’re writing a certain section, if you come up with an idea for something elsewhere in the essay, take a few moments to add to your outline or make notes on your organizational plans.

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Your goals in the first draft are to turn your rough ideas into workable arguments, add detail to those arguments, and get a sense of what the final product will actually look like.

Write strong body paragraphs

Start wherever you want

Many writers do not begin writing at the introduction , or even the early body paragraphs. Start writing your essay where it seems most natural for you to do so.

Some writers might prefer to start with the easiest section to write, while others prefer to get the most difficult section out of the way first. Think about what material you need to clarify for yourself, and consider beginning there.

Tackle one idea at a time

Each paragraph should aim to focus on one central idea, giving evidence, explanation, and arguments that relate to that idea.

At the start of each paragraph, write a topic sentence that expresses the main point. Then elaborate and expand on the topic sentence in the rest of the paragraph.

When you’ve said everything you have to say about the idea, move onto a new paragraph.

Keep your argument flexible

You may realize as you write that some of your ideas don’t work as well as you thought they would. Don’t give up on them too easily, but be prepared to change or abandon sections if you realize they don’t make sense.

You’ll probably also come up with new ideas that you’d not yet thought of when writing the outline. Note these ideas down and incorporate them into the essay if there’s a logical place for them.

If you’re stuck on one section, move on to another part of the essay and come back to it later.

Don’t delete content

If you begin to dislike a certain section or even the whole essay, don’t scrap it in fit of rage!

If something really isn’t working, you can paste it into a separate document, but keep what you have, even if you don’t plan on using it. You may find that it contains or inspires new ideas that you can use later.

Note your sources

Students often make work for themselves by forgetting to keep track of sources when writing drafts.

You can save yourself a lot of time later and ensure you avoid plagiarism by noting down the name, year, and page number every time you quote or paraphrase from a source.

You can also use a citation generator to save a list of your sources and copy-and-paste citations when you need them.

Avoid perfectionism

When you’re writing a first draft, it’s important not to get slowed down by small details. Get your ideas down on paper now and perfect them later. If you’re unsatisfied with a word, sentence, or argument, flag it in the draft and revisit it later.

When you finish the first draft, you will know which sections and paragraphs work and which might need to be changed. It doesn’t make sense to spend time polishing something you might later cut out or revise.

Working on the second draft means assessing what you’ve got and rewriting it when necessary. You’ll likely end up cutting some parts of the essay and adding new ones.

Check your ideas against your thesis

Everything you write should be driven by your thesis . Looking at each piece of information or argumentation, ask yourself:

  • Does the reader need to know this in order to understand or accept my thesis?
  • Does this give evidence for my thesis?
  • Does this explain the reasoning behind my thesis?
  • Does this show something about the consequences or importance of my thesis?

If you can’t answer yes to any of these questions, reconsider whether it’s relevant enough to include.

If your essay has gone in a different direction than you originally planned, you might have to rework your thesis statement to more accurately reflect the argument you’ve made.

Watch out for weak points

Be critical of your arguments, and identify any potential weak points:

  • Unjustified assumptions: Can you be confident that your reader shares or will accept your assumptions, or do they need to be spelled out?
  • Lack of evidence:  Do you make claims without backing them up?
  • Logical inconsistencies:  Do any of your points contradict each other?
  • Uncertainty: Are there points where you’re unsure about your own claims or where you don’t sound confident in what you’re saying?

Fixing these issues might require some more research to clarify your position and give convincing evidence for it.

Check the organization

When you’re happy with all the main parts of your essay, take another look at the overall shape of it. You want to make sure that everything proceeds in a logical order without unnecessary repetition.

Try listing only the topic sentence of each paragraph and reading them in order. Are any of the topic sentences too similar? Each paragraph should discuss something different; if two paragraphs are about the same topic, they must approach it in different ways, and these differences should be made clear in the topic sentences.

Does the order of information make sense? Looking at only topic sentences lets you see at a glance the route your paper takes from start to finish, allowing you to spot organizational errors more easily.

Draw clear connections between your ideas

Finally, you should assess how your ideas fit together both within and between paragraphs. The connections might be clear to you, but you need to make sure they’ll also be clear to your reader.

Within each paragraph, does each sentence follow logically from the one before it? If not, you might need to add new sentences to make the connections clear. Try using transition words to clarify what you want to say.

Between one paragraph and the next, is it clear how your points relate to one another? If you are moving onto an entirely new topic, consider starting the paragraph with a transition sentence that moves from the previous topic and shows how it relates to the new one.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Shane Bryson

Shane Bryson

Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.

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Writing Beginner

Body Writing 101 (Ultimate Guide for Beginners)

Body writing is a way to connect with a partner or other significant other.

If you haven’t tried it or are new to the practice, this is your ultimate guide to body writing 101. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know.

What Is Body Writing?

Body writing is the act of writing or drawing on someone’s body with a pen, pencil, or another instrument. It can be used as a form of communication, to show affection, or for personal empowerment and gratification. Body writing is also a common fetish in BDSM.

Example of body writing—words written on a man

Writing on the body can be cute, innocent, powerful, or humiliating. It can also be quite provocative.

It really depends on the two (or more) people involved—and what you write on the body.

Types of Body Writing

There are several types of body scribbling. Since this is the ultimate guide, I want to share a shortlist and then dive into the details.

The shortlist of types:

  • Long-Distance Relationship, or LDR
  • Humiliation

What Is BDSM Body Writing?

This is a type of writing on the body used in Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadochism and Masochism (BDSM) relationships.

It is usually more erotic than other types.

It tends to include possessive language like “owned” and “property of.” There may even be roles and labels of “daddy,” “little,” and even a metaphorical “slave” (all with consent).

Here is a good video that goes over BDSM writing on the body in more detail:

What Is Hentai Body Writing?

This type of writing on the body usually involves anime or Manga characters in various states of undress.

The anime characters might be alone or with other characters.

Note: The images can get pretty explicit.

You can read a great article about general anime writing over here.

What Is Long-Distance Body Writing?

Long-distance writing on the body mostly happens in long-distance relationships (LDRs).

One person requests that the other partner write a word or a phrase on their body. Subsequently, one partner might write a word or phrase on their own body.

The words can range from romantic (dream girl) to more personal and intimate messages (I love you).

Long-distance body writing can be a way for two partners to connect.

This can be very helpful in LDRs because of the physical distance. Partners understandably want to connect with each other in any way possible.

What Is Humiliation Body Writing?

In this form of writing on the body, one person is the dominant partner and the other is the submissive partner.

The dominant decides what will be written on the body of the submissive. This type of writing can be a form of erotic humiliation or done simply for fun.

It’s important to note that both partners must be comfortable with this type of body writing.

Also, be sure that the writing is temporary and quickly removable.

What Is Cute Body Writing?

Cute or innocent writing on the body is non-erotic and sometimes non-romantic.

It involves writing with positive, friendly intent.

Unlike the more adult-themed body scribbling, this type can be done between partners, friends, family members, and even co-workers.

For example:

  • A father might temporarily write “I love you” on his son or daughter.
  • A co-worker might write “stressed” on their own body during a team-building activity.
  • Two friends might scribble “besties” on each other.
  • A teenager might write, “Will you go to prom with me?” on their arm.

What Is Empowering Body Writing?

This is when you write on your body or someone else’s body with the purpose of empowerment.

Writing on your body can be a way to reclaim yourself, your body, and/or sexuality.

It can also be a way to increase self-esteem or confidence.

  • A woman who undergoes surgery to reconstruct her upper chest might write “I am beautiful” across her scars.
  • A person who is feeling insecure about their weight might write “I am worthy” all over their body.

What Is Permanent Body Writing?

Most of the time, writing on the body is temporary.

Body writers use pens or markers that easily wash off in a few hours or days. Permanent body writing is just that: more permanent.

For example, it can be written in the form of a temporary or permanent tattoo.

What Is Public Body Writing?

Public writing on the body is when someone writes or draws on someone else’s body in a public setting.

This could be at a party, during a performance, or in any other social situation.

Public body writing can be cute, erotic, or empowering.

What Is the Purpose?

There are many purposes of body scribbling.

Some people do it for fun, some do it as a form of communication, and some do it to empower themselves or others.

The main purpose is to express something in a visual way.

Here is a list of possible purposes:

  • Dominance/Submission
  • Self-flagellation
  • Self-empowerment

Some people write things on their bodies to remember them for later.

For example, I might write a phone number on my hand.

If I don’t have a piece of paper or note-taking utensil, a quick note on my body might jog my memory later.

How Do I Get Started?

The best way to get started is by picking a comfortable spot on your body or your partner’s body.

Almost anywhere can work.

However, keep in mind where you or your partner needs to go. If your partner is headed to work later, be sure to write somewhere they can easily conceal.

There is no reason to get in trouble on the job.

Another tip is to moisturize the body part before writing to make removal much easier.

Next, choose a writing utensil.

  • Waterproof eye-liner
  • Watercolor markers
  • Whiteboard marker
  • Or choose one of these fun writing utensils

Choose what you want to say. If someone else is involved, make sure they consent to the message.

I’ve found the best way to write clearly is if my partner is sitting, standing, or lying still. Any movement can lead to sloppy, incoherent words.

Once you’ve written your message, take a picture.

This is a great way to remember the moment.

What Materials Do You Need?

All you need is a body, a writing implement, and somewhere to write without interruption.

However, there are some materials that can make the experience more fun or interesting:

  • Body stamps
  • Temporary Tattoos

Best Markers for Body Writing

Here are my favorite markers for writing on my body or my partner’s body:

  • BodyMark by BIC
  • Looney Zoo Markers
  • Mehron Makeup Paradise AQ Face & Body Paint
  • Winged Eyeliner Stamp – The Flick Stick by Lovoir

How Do I Clean Up?

There are a few ways to clean up body writing:

  • Body Wipes —These are wet wipes that are specifically designed to clean up body messes. They usually come in a pack of 30-60 wipes.
  • Water —If you’re near a sink, you can use water and soap to clean up your body.
  • Dishwashing Soap —Dawn works wonders on most body scribbling.
  • Rubbing Alcohol —I have found this to be an excellent way to clean the ink off of your skin.

How Long Does Body Writing Last?

Most writing on your body only lasts a few hours or days.

However, if you use a permanent marker or tattoo, the writing can anywhere from a few weeks to a lifetime.

Before you write on a body, make sure you know the timeframe.

It’s bad luck to need to go to work or to a family wedding with words scrawled all over your body.

What are the Risks?

There are very few risks involved with body writing.

The most common (but rare) risks are infection and skin irritation. If you’re using a pen or marker, it’s important not to let the ink bleed.

In addition, be mindful of what you write.

Make sure the message is consensual and accepted by everyone involved.

Some people feel self-conscious or uncomfortable with body writing. Others absolutely love it.

Body Writing vs. Body Swap Writing

These are two very different types of writing. One is writing on the body and the other is a genre or form of fiction.

For example, body swap writing is a popular subgenre in fanfiction.

It could be a fanfiction body swap between Harry Potter and the Power Rangers . Or Spider-Man and Captain Kirk.

Essentially, body swap writing is when two characters trade bodies.

This can be a fun way to explore different character traits or just have some laughs.

Is Body Writing Fun?

Yes, it can be a lot of fun.

You can experiment with different inks, stamps, and materials. You can also play body writing roulette or do a body writing dare.

Body writing roulette is when each player takes a turn writing on the other player’s body.

It can be a playful way to get creative with your messages or just have some innocent fun.

Dares can also be a lot of fun.

For example, you can dare your partner to write a specific word in a particular place.

Body Writing Ideas

To make this a complete guide, I want to give you as many ideas for body scribbling as possible.

Enjoy this list of ideas:

  • You make me happy
  • I belong to you
  • I belong to _______
  • (Name) has my heart
  • I trust you
  • You’re my everything
  • My life depends on you
  • I’m sorry
  • You’re beautiful

Final Thoughts

I encourage you to try this practice. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy writing on yourself and your significant other.

Before you go, here are a few related posts hand-picked just for you:

  • How to Write Erotica: The NEW Ultimate Guide
  • Is Writing a Hobby? (Answered & Explained)
  • What Is Jingle Writing? (Explained for Beginners)
  • What Is Considered a Long-Distance Relationship?

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Body Paragraphs

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This resource outlines the generally accepted structure for introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions in an academic argument paper. Keep in mind that this resource contains guidelines and not strict rules about organization. Your structure needs to be flexible enough to meet the requirements of your purpose and audience.

Body paragraphs: Moving from general to specific information

Your paper should be organized in a manner that moves from general to specific information. Every time you begin a new subject, think of an inverted pyramid - The broadest range of information sits at the top, and as the paragraph or paper progresses, the author becomes more and more focused on the argument ending with specific, detailed evidence supporting a claim. Lastly, the author explains how and why the information she has just provided connects to and supports her thesis (a brief wrap-up or warrant).

This image shows an inverted pyramid that contains the following text. At the wide top of the pyramid, the text reads general information introduction, topic sentence. Moving down the pyramid to the narrow point, the text reads focusing direction of paper, telling. Getting more specific, showing. Supporting details, data. Conclusions and brief wrap up, warrant.

Moving from General to Specific Information

The four elements of a good paragraph (TTEB)

A good paragraph should contain at least the following four elements: T ransition, T opic sentence, specific E vidence and analysis, and a B rief wrap-up sentence (also known as a warrant ) –TTEB!

  • A T ransition sentence leading in from a previous paragraph to assure smooth reading. This acts as a hand-off from one idea to the next.
  • A T opic sentence that tells the reader what you will be discussing in the paragraph.
  • Specific E vidence and analysis that supports one of your claims and that provides a deeper level of detail than your topic sentence.
  • A B rief wrap-up sentence that tells the reader how and why this information supports the paper’s thesis. The brief wrap-up is also known as the warrant. The warrant is important to your argument because it connects your reasoning and support to your thesis, and it shows that the information in the paragraph is related to your thesis and helps defend it.

Supporting evidence (induction and deduction)

Induction is the type of reasoning that moves from specific facts to a general conclusion. When you use induction in your paper, you will state your thesis (which is actually the conclusion you have come to after looking at all the facts) and then support your thesis with the facts. The following is an example of induction taken from Dorothy U. Seyler’s Understanding Argument :

There is the dead body of Smith. Smith was shot in his bedroom between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to the coroner. Smith was shot with a .32 caliber pistol. The pistol left in the bedroom contains Jones’s fingerprints. Jones was seen, by a neighbor, entering the Smith home at around 11:00 p.m. the night of Smith’s death. A coworker heard Smith and Jones arguing in Smith’s office the morning of the day Smith died.

Conclusion: Jones killed Smith.

Here, then, is the example in bullet form:

  • Conclusion: Jones killed Smith
  • Support: Smith was shot by Jones’ gun, Jones was seen entering the scene of the crime, Jones and Smith argued earlier in the day Smith died.
  • Assumption: The facts are representative, not isolated incidents, and thus reveal a trend, justifying the conclusion drawn.

When you use deduction in an argument, you begin with general premises and move to a specific conclusion. There is a precise pattern you must use when you reason deductively. This pattern is called syllogistic reasoning (the syllogism). Syllogistic reasoning (deduction) is organized in three steps:

  • Major premise
  • Minor premise

In order for the syllogism (deduction) to work, you must accept that the relationship of the two premises lead, logically, to the conclusion. Here are two examples of deduction or syllogistic reasoning:

  • Major premise: All men are mortal.
  • Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
  • Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.
  • Major premise: People who perform with courage and clear purpose in a crisis are great leaders.
  • Minor premise: Lincoln was a person who performed with courage and a clear purpose in a crisis.
  • Conclusion: Lincoln was a great leader.

So in order for deduction to work in the example involving Socrates, you must agree that (1) all men are mortal (they all die); and (2) Socrates is a man. If you disagree with either of these premises, the conclusion is invalid. The example using Socrates isn’t so difficult to validate. But when you move into more murky water (when you use terms such as courage , clear purpose , and great ), the connections get tenuous.

For example, some historians might argue that Lincoln didn’t really shine until a few years into the Civil War, after many Union losses to Southern leaders such as Robert E. Lee.

The following is a clear example of deduction gone awry:

  • Major premise: All dogs make good pets.
  • Minor premise: Doogle is a dog.
  • Conclusion: Doogle will make a good pet.

If you don’t agree that all dogs make good pets, then the conclusion that Doogle will make a good pet is invalid.

When a premise in a syllogism is missing, the syllogism becomes an enthymeme. Enthymemes can be very effective in argument, but they can also be unethical and lead to invalid conclusions. Authors often use enthymemes to persuade audiences. The following is an example of an enthymeme:

If you have a plasma TV, you are not poor.

The first part of the enthymeme (If you have a plasma TV) is the stated premise. The second part of the statement (you are not poor) is the conclusion. Therefore, the unstated premise is “Only rich people have plasma TVs.” The enthymeme above leads us to an invalid conclusion (people who own plasma TVs are not poor) because there are plenty of people who own plasma TVs who are poor. Let’s look at this enthymeme in a syllogistic structure:

  • Major premise: People who own plasma TVs are rich (unstated above).
  • Minor premise: You own a plasma TV.
  • Conclusion: You are not poor.

To help you understand how induction and deduction can work together to form a solid argument, you may want to look at the United States Declaration of Independence. The first section of the Declaration contains a series of syllogisms, while the middle section is an inductive list of examples. The final section brings the first and second sections together in a compelling conclusion.

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When you write strong, clear paragraphs, you are guiding your readers through your argument by showing them how your points fit together to support your thesis. The number of paragraphs in your essay should be determined by the number of steps you need to take to build your argument. To write strong paragraphs, try to focus each paragraph on one main point—and begin a new paragraph when you are moving to a new point or example.

A strong paragraph in an academic essay will usually include these three elements:

  • A topic sentence. The topic sentence does double duty for a paragraph. First, a strong topic sentence makes a claim or states a main idea that is then developed in the rest of the paragraph. Second, the topic sentence signals to readers how the paragraph is connected to the larger argument in your paper. Below is an example of a topic sentence from a paper by Laura Connor ‘23 that analyzes rhetoric used by Frederic Douglass, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Karl Marx. In her paper, Connor argues that Marx’s rhetoric was most effective in driving social change. In his numerous writings, Marx critiques capitalism by identifying its flaws. This topic sentence makes a claim that will then need to be supported with evidence: readers can expect that the sentence will be followed by a discussion of what Marx saw as the flaws in capitalism, which will in turn help them understand Connor’s thesis about how these three authors used their rhetoric to effect social change. A topic sentence signals to your readers what idea is most important in that paragraph—and it also helps you know if you’ve effectively made your point. In this case, Connor has set up the expectation for readers that by the end of the paragraph, they will understand Marx’s view of the flaws in capitalism. Imagine that, instead of writing “Marx critiques capitalism by identifying its flaws,” Connor had begun that paragraph with a descriptive sentence. For example, she could have written something like this: “Marx wrote a critique of capitalism.” While that sentence describes something that happened, it does not give readers information about what will be in the rest of the paragraph—and it would not have helped Connor figure out how to organize the paragraph.
  • Evidence. Once you’ve made a claim in your topic sentence, you’ll need to help your readers see how you arrived at that claim from the evidence that you examined. That evidence may include quotations or paraphrased material from a source, or it may include data, results, or primary source material. In the paragraph that follows Connor’s topic sentence above, she offers several quotations from Marx that demonstrate how he viewed the flaws in capitalism.
  • Analysis. It’s not enough to provide evidence to support a claim. You have to tell your readers what you want them to understand about that evidence. In other words, you have to analyze it. How does this evidence support your claim? In Connor’s paragraph, she follows her presentation of evidence with sentences that tell readers what they need to understand about that evidence—specifically that it shows how Marx pointed to the flaws in capitalism without telling his own readers what to think about it, and that this was his strategy. It might be tempting to end your paragraph with either a sentence summarizing everything you’ve just written or the introduction of a new idea. But in a short paragraph, your readers don’t need a summary of all that you’ve just said. And introducing a new point in the final sentence can confuse readers by leaving them without evidence to support that new point. Instead, try to end your paragraph with a sentence that tells readers something that they can now understand because they’ve read your paragraph. In Connor’s paragraph, the final sentence doesn’t summarize all of Marx’s specific claims but instead tells readers what to take away from that evidence. After seeing what Marx says about capitalism, Connor explains what the evidence she has just offered suggests about Marx’s beliefs.

Below, you’ll find Connor’s complete paragraph. The topic sentence appears in blue . The evidence appears in green . Connor’s analysis of the evidence appears in yellow .  

Example paragraph  

In his numerous writings, Marx critiques capitalism by identifying its flaws. By critiquing the political economy and capitalism, Marx implores his reader to think critically about their position in society and restores awareness in the proletariat class. T o Marx, capitalism is a system characterized by the “exploitation of the many by the few,” in which workers accept the exploitation of their labor and receive only harm of “alienation,” rather than true benefits ( MER 487). He writes that “labour produces for the rich wonderful things – but for the worker it produces privation. It produces palaces—but for the worker, hovels. It produces beauty—but for the worker, deformity” (MER 73). Marx argues capitalism is a system in which the laborer is repeatedly harmed and estranged from himself, his labor, and other people, while the owner of his labor – the capitalist – receives the benefits ( MER 74). And while industry progresses, the worker “sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class” ( MER 483). But while Marx critiques the political economy, he does not explicitly say “capitalism is wrong.” Rather, his close examination of the system makes its flaws obvious. Only once the working class realizes the flaws of the system, Marx believes, will they - must they - rise up against their bourgeois masters and achieve the necessary and inevitable communist revolution.

Not every paragraph will be structured exactly like this one, of course. But as you draft your own paragraphs, look for all three of these elements: topic sentence, evidence, and analysis.

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The essay body itself is organised into paragraphs, according to your plan. Remember that each paragraph focuses on one idea, or aspect of your topic, and should contain at least 4-5 sentences so you can deal with that idea properly.

Each body paragraph has three sections. First is the topic sentence . This lets the reader know what the paragraph is going to be about and the main point it will make. It gives the paragraph’s point straight away. Next – and largest – is the supporting sentences . These expand on the central idea, explaining it in more detail, exploring what it means, and of course giving the evidence and argument that back it up. This is where you use your research to support your argument. Then there is a concluding sentence . This restates the idea in the topic sentence, to remind the reader of your main point. It also shows how that point helps answer the question.

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How to Score Most Points for Writing Body of an Essay?

Table of content.

  • 01. What Does a Structure of Essay Body Include?
  • 02. Create an Effective Essay Topic Sentence
  • 03. How to Explain Evidence in an Essay?
  • 04. Tips For Creating Strong Body Paragraph
  • 05. Create a Perfect Body for a Perfect Essay

Writing body of an essay is difficult task. In many ways, it’s the most relevant section because all major points of your paper should be introduced and dissected there. This is your chance to study the topic in as much depth as needed, presenting your arguments, defending them, and supporting them with academic sources. Most essay points are awarded for this part, so college students should ensure that every paragraph is thought out, valid, and properly formatted. 

But naturally, several questions occur. How to use evidence in an essay? What structure should typical body have? How long should it be? Body is the largest part of a written text, so while it gives you most opportunities for getting a great grade, there are also more risks of making mistakes. If you want to avoid them, you should know all standard rules and follow them while writing. We’ll be happy to help you meet professor’s requirements, so take a look at the tips we’ve devised.

What Does a Structure of Essay Body Include?

Essay paragraph structure follows the same academic standards, no matter what kind of paper you’re writing or which subject you’re exploring. There are four main parts a body must have. Here are they are:

  • Topic sentence.  Each body paragraph should start with an opening sentence. It functions as an approximate outline of what you’ll be discussing right afterward, preparing the ground and letting your readers know information they can count on getting.
  • Evidence.  Direct quotes, paraphrases, and other facts are needed to solidify your arguments. Remember that every essay requires it: even if one is writing an informal kind of it, they still should include some points that should be elaborated upon. For that, they need evidence.
  • Closing sentence.  This is the last sentence of an essay paragraph. It usually summarizes all the facts mentioned in it and makes a general conclusion on this basis. There are several goals such sentence pursues: on the one hand, it reminds an audience of what they just read, solidifying the key points they’ve learned, and on the other, it finalizes your thoughts in general, bringing order to them. It is important to write it broad yet specific to the paragraph.   
  • Essay transition phrases .  Transitions could be made a part of your closing sentence or added as a separate element at an end of the paragraph. They function as links leading toward the next paragraph, so you should make their content fit both your current and your next paragraphs. Use special transitional words to make process of their incorporation easier. Add them into each part, and you’ll get enough marks for your structure.

Create an Effective Essay Topic Sentence

Now is the time to understand the specifics of opening sentences and see how they work on practical examples. So, like it became clear from the previous section, opening sentences are placed at the start of each body paragraph. They announce writer’s intentions and are in direct relation with thesis. Using the topic about reasons that motivate people to become doctors, we have a caring nature, communicativeness, and hunger for power as three attributes introduced in a thesis. 

What is a topic sentence in an essay like this? For the first body paragraph, it could say the following: “One of the reasons that encourage young people to pursue nursing career is their caring nature.” The opening line for the second paragraph could be, “Being communicative is another big motivator that pushes individuals toward healthcare work.” These lines are connected with thesis and they disclose the main aim of the paragraphs themselves. Follow this example and your topic sentence will be flawless!

How to Explain Evidence in an Essay?

The next point is evidence. Like we explained, it should be present in any paper irrespective of topics, and the stronger it is, the more chances at success you gain. There are several models you could use for presenting and explaining your evidence, but we’re going to focus only on several of them. The first one requires using a quote. You could cite something directly from a book or an article or put this information in your own words. In both cases, watch out for  essay format : some styles like APA need you to use an author’s name and date while formats like MLA demand the mention of pages in all instances. Clarify it with your university — they should provide template. It is vital since, without proper citations, you might be accused of plagiarism. After using this quote, explain its meaning. Elaborate a bit, adding some extra details. After that, present several points of your own, and if needed, support them with more sources.

Another effective model includes basing evidence directly on the first sentence of an essay paragraph. Start going from there: if you mentioned caring qualities, expand on that by pointing out what makes an individual caring and in what ways it is expressed. Slowly, lead toward some relevant quote or paraphrase, and then, again, offer an explanation. This gradual system is just as effective, so choose whichever option you prefer.

Concluding Sentences

What about closing essay transition sentences? They are extremely important because they give a writer an opportunity to solidify the conclusion they need in the minds of their readers. Not every person is reading attentively enough, so they might skip over some crucial points. With a closing sentence, they are reminded of the goal this paragraph had. Writing this bit is more difficult than working with an opening line because it should be concise yet extremely informative. For example, this is how we close paragraph about caring nurses: “Thus, caring people are more predisposed to helping others, and many of them want to make it a part of their future career.” Here we used a concluding word “thus” and covered the core content from a paragraph. It goes back toward thesis, which is another plus. But there is also another way of concluding essay.

Remember! Use our  conclusion sentence generator  to create a great last paragraph.

Transitions are Essential

They either conclude an essay or are added to the second half of a closing sentence. Our examples will help you make sense of them. In the first case, transition is a short ending to a paragraph that hints at what is coming next. When you take a reader from a paragraph about kindness toward a paragraph about communicativeness, it could sound like this: “However, being caring is not the only attribute people choosing nursing as career possess.”  Pay attention to “however” — it works as a transitional word. There are several words like this, such as “nevertheless,” “but”, “in addition,” “nonetheless,” etc.  If you want to incorporate transitions into a closing line, you could rely on them as well. For instance: “Caring people are more inclined to help others, but it is not the only attribute that future doctors tend to possess.” We combined both closing and transitional sentences into one here. Do the same if you like this option.

Tips For Creating Strong Body Paragraph

Before students start writing their paper, they should understand what they need to do. Body is an extremely complex section, so it’s always better to figure out the basics and create an outline. First of all, choose your topic. Determine what argument you’ll be making. Outline all main points, and then rely on these three steps.  

  • Develop thesis and use it as a guide.  Thesis is presented in introduction, but it has strong links with the body, so it’s better to make it before you do anything else. Imagine that you defined 4 main points for your upcoming research. After putting them in a thesis, you can create each paragraph in accordance with them. For instance, your thesis says: “Three main reasons explaining why people become doctors include being caring, communicative, and power-hungry.” “Caring” attribute would be focus of your first body paragraph, “communicative” would be explored in the second, and “power hungry” in the third one. If you find yourself losing focus as you’re working on a body, always look back to thesis and use it for guiding you.
  • Figure out body length.  How many sentences are in a essay? Find an answer to this question to understand what volume of info you’ll be working with. Re-read your instructions, they’ll tell you how many words should be written. If not, clarify it with your teacher. If an essay should be 5 pages long, then it has about 1500 words. 10% will go for intro and the same amount will be given to conclusion (meaning that they’ll have 150 words each). The rest should be good for body, so plan accordingly. This could help you understand how much information you need.
  • Understand structure of a body.  What does a topic phrase mean? How to write a transition sentence? If you know answers to these questions, great! If no, then you should find everything out as soon as possible. Body is not just shapeless wall of text, it is a section where logic, precision, and order are a must. Students writing an essay should know what each paragraph consists of and how to make every element in it effective.

Create a Perfect Body for a Perfect Essay

Whether you’re writing 5 paragraph essay or a whole dissertation, the body of this work has to be flawless. Ensure this by taking all tips we provided above into account. Remember about four components each body should have (opening and closing sentences, evidence, and transitions) together with strategies for making them effective. You could write them down and tick them off whenever you compose another paragraph.

Trust us, if you cover all these moments, this largest section is bound to get you good grades. If you have issues with citing evidence or creating essay transitions, though, never hesitate to  look for help . We have come to the assistance to many students before, and we’ll be glad to do it for you as well. Just explain your instructions and we’ll treat your body like we would our own, with all the care it deserves! 

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How to Write a Body Paragraph

Last Updated: June 4, 2023

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD and by wikiHow staff writer, Christopher M. Osborne, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. This article has been viewed 27,107 times.

Writing a paragraph might seem simple on the surface—it just needs a starting point, an ending point, and some related sentences in between to fill it out. However, a quality paragraph states a clear main idea, supports and analyzes this main idea based on strong evidence, and ties it all into the overall focus of your essay. This is especially true of body paragraphs, which make up the heart of your essay between the introduction and conclusion.

Planning Before Writing

Step 1 View each body paragraph as a mini essay.

  • As a mini essay, each paragraph needs to have a main point (or thesis), supporting evidence, analysis of that evidence, commentary, and a recap of the main point based on the evidence and analysis. Your topic sentence acts as the thesis for the paragraph, providing a road map of what you'll discuss.
  • Each paragraph should feel complete if you read it on its own, but also logically connect to the other paragraphs in the essay.
  • For instance, a topic sentence might look like this: "As the length of playoff games expand, baseball fans lose interest in the game."
  • Supporting evidence for this topic sentence could include statistics of how many fans watched the games, results of fan polls, and quotes from reliable sports articles.

Step 2 Build momentum with each sentence by pushing your ideas forward.

  • Like that freight train, your paragraph should move in only one direction—forward toward your end point. Each sentence needs to build on the last.
  • So, before you start writing, jot down the concept for the paragraph’s main idea and start thinking how the paragraph will advance it forward.

Step 3 Gather the supporting materials you’ll draw from.

  • A body paragraph is only as good as its evidence. Your main idea will fall flat if you have flimsy evidence—or no evidence—to advance it forward.
  • If you don’t have adequate evidence to support your proposed main idea for the paragraph, you’ll either have to do additional research or adjust your claim to suit your evidence.
  • Great sources of evidence include books, journal articles, reliable websites, and newspaper articles.

Writing the Paragraph

Step 1 Build a transition from the previous paragraph.

  • For instance, if your previous paragraph focused on revealing how exciting baseball’s World Series has been in recent years, you might start by writing, “While there’s no doubt the World Series has provided numerous exciting moments recently,...”
  • Repeating a key phrase can also make a good transition. To keep with the baseball theme, you might repeat the phrase “big hit” in the last sentence of the previous paragraph and the first sentence of the current one.

Step 2 Express the paragraph’s main idea very early on.

  • The main idea should be a claim that you can make a convincing argument to support, not a statement of fact.
  • For instance: “While there’s no doubt the World Series has provided numerous exciting moments recently, the increasing amount of time it takes to complete each game likely decreases overall interest.”

Step 3 Present the evidence for your main idea.

  • For example: “The average Major League Baseball playoff game (as of 2017) takes over three-and-a-half hours to complete, an increase in more than thirty minutes from the average length of World Series games in 1988.” [5] X Research source
  • Also: “Since World Series games start after 8 pm in the Eastern Time Zone, they often don’t end until midnight or later for many viewers in the U.S.”

Step 4 Add quotations as a powerful form of evidence.

  • While including longer quotes can sometimes be helpful, it’s usually best to incorporate smaller snippets from quotations into your own sentence.
  • Introduce the quote with “asserts,” “claims,” “proposes,” or similar: “As 12-year old Boston Red Sox fan Tim Green bemoans, ‘I haven’t been able to watch the end of a single game of the World Series,’ due to the length of the games.”
  • Make sure to provide a citation with the source of the quotation, according to the citation style you’re using.

Step 5 Analyze how the evidence supports your main idea.

  • Your analysis might include anticipating counter-perspectives to your evidence: “While many baseball fans embrace the notion that it’s one of few sports without a game clock, it’s hard to imagine that anyone finds it easy to stay engaged and enthused—if tuned in at all—to a four-plus hour game.”

Step 6 Evaluate your main idea’s impact as the paragraph ends.

  • Imagine that you're answering the question, "So what?" What should people take from your paragraph? How should they feel about your topic?
  • For instance: “The long games and late conclusions during baseball’s showcase time of year threaten to alienate fans, especially the younger ones who are essential to the sport’s future.”
  • Closing the current paragraph with an enhancement of your main idea provides a solid transition into the next paragraph, without having to write an actual transition (as you did at the start of the paragraph).

Revising Your Work

Step 1 Confirm that the main idea is clearly stated.

  • Try having a friend or family member read the paragraph, then ask them, “What’s it about?” They should answer with some version of your main idea.

Step 2 Make sure each sentence supports the paragraph’s focus.

  • Try cutting sentences or sections you’re not sure about and see if they are missed—if not, get rid of them permanently.

Step 3 Strengthen the “bridges” between related elements.

  • Make sure each sentence builds logically from the one before it, and leads logically into the one after it. Try rearranging content if necessary.
  • Verbal bridges can be transitions (“Also,” “However,” “So,” etc.), or you can use strategies like repetition or synonyms to link each sentence to the next.

Step 4 Proofread

  • It’s very easy to miss mistakes in your own writing, so have a fresh set of eyes look over your work whenever possible.

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  • ↑ https://slc.berkeley.edu/some-tips-writing-efficient-effective-body-paragraphs
  • ↑ https://ctl.yale.edu/sites/default/files/basic-page-supplementary-materials-files/body_paragraph_analysis_0.pdf
  • ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html
  • ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/10/23/pace-of-play-playoffs/791927001/

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Christopher Taylor, PhD

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body of a writing

Writing the Body: Trauma, Illness, Sexuality, and Beyond

Eileen myles, ruth ozeki, porochista khakpour, anna march & alexandra kleeman.

In September, Michele Filgate’s quarterly Red Ink Series—focused on women writers, past and present—brought together Eileen Myles, Ruth Ozeki, Porochista Khakpour, Anna March, and Alexandra Kleeman for a wide-ranging discussion about writing the body, from health to gender, sexuality, and beyond. The next Red Ink event, “ Writing About Depression ,” will take place at BookCourt this Thursday, 12/8.

Michele Filgate:  I wanted to start out by reading a quote from Rene Gladman’s new book Calamity that Leads Books just published. I really recommend it. She says, “I began the day trying to say the word ‘body’ as many times as I could, for myself and for everyone in the room. I wanted to exchange the word with all my correspondents. I wanted to say ‘body’ to them: How is your body, or Write through the body, or How does the body activate objects in the room. I hoped to say ‘body’ and see a change come over your face: inside your body, the edge of the body, your body split. (I split you.) I hoped to reach a point in speaking where when it was time to say ‘body’ I could go silent instead. I’d pause and everyone in the room would sound the word within themselves. I’d go, ‘Every time you put a hole in the _____,’ and demur. Lower my head like a 40-watt bulb, look solemn. Or say, ‘We all carry something in our _____,’ and the collective internal silent hum would overwhelm my senses. This would be real communication: something you started in your _____ would finish in mine.”

So I put together this panel because I think it’s so important to talk about bodies, about women and bodies. Some of these questions may be directed to individual authors but I encourage anyone to answer or chime in whenever they want.

Ruth, in The Face: A Time Code , you sat in front of the mirror for three hours and wrote about your face. How did this mirror change the way you think about your body and your writing, and can you also tell us what your Zen is?

Ruth Ozeki:  Sure, well mirror Zen, it turns out, is actually a practice, though I didn’t realize that at the time I came up with this idea to sit in front of a mirror for three hours and observe my face. The reason I did this was really kind of practical. I needed to write this commission for Restless Books—an essay about my face—and when I actually thought about sitting down to do this, it was just so appalling to me that I needed some kind of device that would get me through. Being a Zen practitioner, and certainly being a Zen writer, the way I approach these things is to sit with whatever it is that I’m writing. So in this case I thought, “Well I’ll just put a mirror up, and I’ll sit with my face for three hours”—which seemed like a suitably painful length of time—”and something will happen, right? Something will happen.”

It was interesting because after I did this, and in fact after I wrote the essay, I discovered that there is really a practice called mirror Zen. It started in Kamakura, at a temple called Tōkei-ji. It was a nunnery, and it was the only place in Japan during, you know the, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th    centuries—around that time—where a woman could get a divorce. Women who were trying to escape abusive marriages, or who wanted to be divorced, would come to the nunnery, and they would throw their shoes over the nunnery gate, and that would gain them admittance. Then they would sit for three years and study their reflections in a mirror—they would sit zazen in front of a mirror—and the idea is that, by doing so, you start to understand your attachments and your aversions to your face. It’s a way of reclaiming your image.

So, I think that’s kind of what happened during those three years—three hours. It felt like three years. By sitting there, what I started to realize was that these were all stories that I had—that the face is just filled with stories, and the body is filled with stories. That was an interesting realization, and I think that the most sort of profound part of that was really at the end of three hours, when I walked out of the apartment, and I looked around, and it was astonishing because everyone had faces. Everyone has this complex relationship with—and sort of embedded stories in—their faces, and of course we can’t really see that in each other’s faces. But just the practice of sitting there for three hours opened up this world. So that was really wonderful.

MF:  That sounds terrifying and amazing at the same time. Have any of you ever spent that much time looking at the mirror?

Eileen Myles:  I just want to chime in that the phrase “the Zen writer” is amazing, an amazing pair of words I’ve never heard together like that. It’s really exciting.

MF:  Eileen, I read an interview with you in Rookie mag where you said, “In some way I want my writing to take care of me. I want to live in my worlds. I want to carry my world with me like a shell. I want a home.” Do you think of your body as a home? And do you feel more comfortable with your body on or off the page?

EM:  I sort of feel like writing creates the body, in a way. When I really think about how I felt when I was a kid—I mean, when I was a kid I guess I wrote somewhat, but I drew more, you know. That somehow delivered me into dreams and into some awkward state; it was some way to bear the present, or school, or whatever. But when I stop to think about it, when I really began to have a pretty frequent practice of setting words down, I started to exist. I started to exist on the page. It was almost like until I was out there, I couldn’t be in here, you know? I absolutely don’t say—I could never say—that I feel at home in my body, but I think that my writing created a safe place for it. Putting it out there created an account, or relay, which is kind of the world and my position in it. It’s really literal because so many of us have gotten to our identities through our writing, like it or not. Then you can feel kind of weighed down by that identity. But it started there and I still—I mean, the practice of keeping a journal is not constant in my life, but it’s important because then I’m very aware of when I’m not writing stuff in my journal. When I do, I know there’s a sort of presence, and it’s different from poetry and different from a writing project. It’s all very similar to the way you were describing looking at your face in the mirror and dropping those words on the page. The journal is a self-created image that starts to make it be that I’m here.

RO:  It’s a reflection, too.

EM:  Absolutely. Yeah.

Anna March:  The thing that’s interesting to me about Eileen talking about getting your identity from writing—and I got a lot of this as a young women from her writing, actually—is how you get a lot of your identity from the identity marker of being a woman in society. So you don’t escape that, or you don’t live beyond that—a lot of times it determines the way culture looks at you, the way the world looks at you. So as much as I don’t want to go all Heidegger, I’m thinking about the way that you enter the space by dwelling in the space. I entered the space of feminism, and I entered the space of my body, by writing in it, but also the world enters me through that space of my body, for better or worse, and through the writing as well. So I think that’s kind of what were here about—how were at home in it and how we are not at home in it and alienated from it.

EM: So often they’ll say “she’s there,” but that doesn’t mean that I’m there. They start talking to “her,” and that’s not me. There’s a whole way of, you know, you start as an absence and then you have to write yourself into another thing.

AM:  When you start all that caught up identity of “her,” who’s “her”?

Porochista Khakpour: For me, I’ve never felt that my personality matches me physically, so I’ve always felt out of place. I said at some event last year that I felt uncomfortable in every environment I’ve ever been in. I constantly feel uncomfortable. Everybody makes me uncomfortable: my family, my friends, lovers. Everybody I meet I’m not at ease. So I can try to write from a man’s perspective. I’ve written from the perspective of people with no sexuality. I’ve written from magical perspectives. It’s like an endless quest because, for me, the body is not a temple, and nature is not benevolent. I happen to be somebody who is ill with a pretty seriously chronic illness, so what I get really uncomfortable about is when women—I feel like there’s this goddess culture, right? Loving your body. I mean, I was a yoga teacher at one point, and I was the worst yoga teacher. But it was so violent for me because I don’t like super-feminine identity stuff. I’m wearing a dress tonight, and I know what I might look like, but I find it to be really uncomfortable and hypersexualizing. So I’m still trying to escape the body. Writing for me is my escape from it. It’s kind of like what Eileen is saying: it’s a way for me to multiply my identity so that I’m not trapped in this one.

Alexandra Kleeman:  I just wanted to second what you said, about never feeling like you’re clean, or matching your external appearance. I remember going through puberty and having this experience that people were finding messages in my body that I never placed there. I have no way to rewrite them, but taking them to the page is a way to create reality, or specifically, recreate reality, as a way of taking that back.

MF:  Porochista, you mentioned earlier that you’re chronically ill. You have a memoir coming out called Sick about dealing with late-stage Lyme disease, and you experienced a relapse while you were writing about it. I’m curious—Virginia Woolf wrote in her essay on being ill, “Illness is the great confessional . . . Things are said. Truths blurted out which the cautious respectability of health conceals.” Did you find that to be true while working on your book, and now that you’ve finished the book, do you feel differently about your body?

PK:  The book that I sold, I thought I was going to be well—that I’d gotten cured from late-stage Lyme and cured of all my addictions. So I sold the book as really cheerful, like “Yay, I’m a survivor!” Actually, it was going to be a really shitty book, I think because there was all this false promise of, “You too can be strong like me and in the world.” But then I got hit by a car, an 18 wheeler, and I had this horrible Lyme relapse last winter where it threatened me daily. It threatened my writing life daily. So I actually couldn’t write it. To my editor, I was like, “Hey, do you think I can have some extra time because I heard writers always get extra on books.” They were like, “No,” and I was like, “I’m in the hospital, and there’s no reading of my liver, and they think I might be dying.” They said, “We’ll see if we can . . . maybe give it to us by May.” I was like “Okay, this is fucked up.”

I just somehow did it, but it was really dark, and the thing that helped me a lot was actually social media and writing to strangers. Maybe sort of like what Virginia Woolf was saying—I don’t know if she would be on social media a lot—but I was sharing a lot of inappropriate things. People were writing me like, “I kind of feel like you’re crossing some lines; it’s kind of gross. Did they really need to know about all the blood and all of that?” I had a lot of Miss Manners writing to me on Facebook, and I was like, “Go fuck yourself. First of all I’ve never been someone who’s that pristine or good.” But I was desperate, and my own friends and family were the least helpful people. People in the illness community—there’s a whole underworld there, and it appealed to me in a way that punk rock appealed to me. It’s this other world of invisible people who are all desperate and all there, coming up with crazy solutions. So Sick  became a very different book, and I’m still finishing edits now. I resent saying illness is a teacher. I hate that stuff. But in a way it was, I guess.

MF:  I have a question for you, Anna. In a piece you wrote for Literary Orphans called “What’s In a Name,” you say, “To rewrite our own redemption by telling ourselves our own true stories.” And you wrote a really terrific short story on angels this year called “Sometimes the Angel Has Dreadlocks and Talks Dirty to You.” Yes, we’re getting into the sex portion of the writing about bodies. I’m wondering—there are some really vivid and spectacular sex scenes in that story. When you write about sex, are you writing so you can inhabit your own body more, even if the body is fictional? I’m asking this of all of you.

AM:  No, I’m not writing to inhabit my own body more, but I’m want to talk about another thing related to that question. First, though, I want to talk about what Porochista said about the policing. I write monthly for Salon ; I’ve written a lot about my body. I was a part of the Body Parts section of Salon for a while. There’s very little about my body that I haven’t published somewhere. But I live part-time in this town of 500 people . . . 500 people. I just want to say again,  500 people , and if you come up to me after I’ll tell you all of their names and all of their dogs. So I’m 48, I’m a raw feminist, a feminist killjoy, and I’m totally in your face about it, but I won’t buy tampons in my town. Because I’m 48, but I’m 14, right? I don’t want to get Charlie, who hands me my turkey sandwich four days a week to ask me questions about my period. I just don’t.

So I wrote this piece in Salon about how feminists need to not tolerate men. Feminism has a men’s problem. Forty percent of progressive men identify as feminist vs. eighty percent of progressive women. That is some bullshit. So, Eileen Myles comes over on my page and tells people to blow me when they’re giving me a hard time about Salon. Now I’m feeling all empowered, right? So I decide to go buy tampons. I get the tampons, and Charlie says, “Do you need Advil? Are ya’ feeling all right?” And I’m like, “Can I just get my tampons?” But he’s really sweet, and he’d say the same thing if I was buying Orajel. He’d be like, “Do you have a toothache?” So, a month later I go back and buy more tampons from Charlie. And he goes, “Didn’t you just have your period two weeks ago?” And I’m kind of pissed off. I shouldn’t have been, really. But I’m kind of pissed off, so I say that there’s an app—that you can track your period on the app. So Charlie, who is like 73 and the nicest person, who gives me half a pound of turkey on my sandwich, says, “I’d like to have that app so I can slip some chocolates in your bag for when you’re having PMS.” So here I am, this big bitch.

I go home, and do what I do because I live in a town of 500 people —did I mention that?—and I post it on Facebook. Right away a very important feminist—like, if you Google “very important feminist,” her name is the first one—she writes me, and she says, “You know, Annie, you really shouldn’t let people talk about your body that way.” I’m only trying to tell this nice story about how I live in this town, and how I’m 14 even though I’m not, and how I’m trying to do this thing, and here’s this guy who’s just totally not weird about it. What does feminist mean? It means living in your body out loud. But then I get policed, and people start sharing it, and there’s this full discussion going on about how it’s not okay. So I’m the one that has to deal with this story about inhabiting my body.

I don’t know if I write fiction that way, but it’s certainly true of my nonfiction that I write to inhabit my body more and also to hold myself to what I’m calling for or trying to call for in the world, which is to be more integrated, and to stop being ashamed of your body. I go out and have these talks around the country about shame in your body and all this stuff, and then I won’t buy tampons? No. So I’m trying to integrate that more. In terms of my fiction, though, I write what I like, and what I want to like, and I try to stay true to my characters.

MF:  Back to sex. Why is it so difficult to write about sex? There are awards for bad sex writing, but there aren’t really awards, as far as I know, for bad food writing or bad nature writing, even those can be tough to write about too. So I’m wondering, why sex? What’s difficult about it?

AM:  I think there’s a lot of policing. I participated in a talk for PEN this year called “Beyond Lolita”—which Michele curated or moderated, one of them. It was about writers writing. We had Steve Almond over there saying you should never do these nine things. Then we had Cheryl Strayed saying you should always do these nine things in your writing. I think there are two things: One, a lot of sex writing ignores that women have bodies, and have periods, and buy tampons, and have breasts, and have orgasms, and have them in different ways than men. We have this whole canon of literature where none of that is brought forth. So then when women start writing about that, or men write that about women, it’s like, “Ew, what’s going on?” Lidia Yuknavitch talked about this. Cheryl talked about how she had to fight for the four sex scenes that are in her memoir. I think there’s this sort of notion of “we don’t do that.” Scott Spencer, who wrote Endless Love , which is a horrible movie but a beautiful book, has some of the best—Jonathan Yardley, who hated everything said, “For a few hours of my life it broke my heart. It had some of the most magical, dazzling sex scenes.” He has this 13 page sex scene where Jade has her period, and they’re having sex, and there’s blood everywhere.

I think a lot of this is gendered, and I think also a lot of it is about comfort. There’s also this perception that less is more, and I don’t understand less is more. Why is less more? Why is that? Because Toni Morrison said that once in a Paris Review interview? Alyssa and I have had that fight on panels about this topic. She’s like, “Well, I think less is more,” but why? We can have 20 pages about people sitting at the dining room table which we’re supposed to keep. But then they fuck for, like, one sentence? I don’t get it. And now I won’t talk anymore.

RO:  I was just going to say that we have to parse out this difference between bad sex and bad writing. So there’s bad sex, there’s bad writing, and then there’s bad writing about bad sex. I think these are distinctions that are worth naming. Probably the reason that there are no awards for bad food writing or bad nature writing is that food and nature aren’t really funny in the way that sex is funny, especially when it’s written about badly. I was hanging out with a group of writer friends of mine when Fifty Shades of Grey first came out, and I did an interpretive reading of the first two chapters. In the first two chapters of Fifty Shades of Grey there is very little sex. There’s just a lot of implying that there will be, but it’s so much fun to read out loud. Anyway, I think that there is something to be said for bad writing about bad sex. There’s a virtue there.

PK:  Wait, where can we hear Ruth Ozeki read Fifty Shades of Grey ? [ Laughter. ]

MF:  That will be the next event.

RO:  It was a wonderful group of women. It was Karen Joy Fowler, Jane Hamilton, Dorothy Allison, and we were all living it up.

EM:  Isn’t all porn bad? I don’t mean like gnarly bad, but what I mean is almost anybody I know who likes porn likes certain kinds of bad—they’re like, “I love bad 70s porn.” It’s sort of like the off register is the register.

AM:  And if it’s true to character, is it bad? If your character is weird about sex and awkward, and can’t talk dirty in bed, and then tries to, then you should write that. You should be true to your characters no matter who they are. If you’re writing fiction, then you should be true to yourself and honest as much as the piece requires just like you would about anything else in nonfiction, right? I don’t think it’s that complicated. I think we make it complicated.

PK:  I think it goes back to that idea about being honest. That’s where the humor comes in; that’s why we like awkward sex because my guess is that most people mostly have awkward sex. I don’t know, maybe I do. I think that we haven’t been honest throughout history; women’s bodies have been overly idealized and porno always presents this type of ideal. So we just haven’t been ourselves as human beings a lot. This is something my gynecologist said to me that’s so tragic. Many women don’t realize until much later in life what ovulation looks like or what it is, and they come and say they have yeast infections or something. Nobody ever told me about ovulation when I was in school. I didn’t even know what that was supposed to feel like. We don’t know these things. We are constantly disassociated from our bodies, our own physical realities, so we either go into the realm of the purple—which is like the overly idealized or that sort of porn thing—or it’s clinical, and there’s no in-between. I think this is a good time to be alive because we’re just approaching a sort of raw honesty.

EM:  Have you guys seen the new drawings of the clit?

RO:  Oh, yeah . . .

EM:  It’s all over the media because they have 3D models now and never drawings. The thing that’s really weird is that they had these drawings several centuries ago, and they got suppressed for one or two hundred years because it was disturbing. It’s like the grotto, the dirty. Because it was too systemic and complicated; there was so much more than there was supposed to be.

AK:  I want to second what Porochista was saying about learning about your body from sources that you should have been learning about these things, like in school or in a more professional way. I learned that the vagina can tear during childbirth from a set of poems by a Japanese poet. Then I immediately was like, “Let me look this up on the internet. Let me read more about it.” This should have been basic knowledge. It’s a bad surprise to spring on someone. [ Laughs ] But one of my personal answers as to why writing about sex is so limited right now is that I feel like we’re taking as our model a lot of film images, or images of sex, and those images are flattened in some way. They don’t have viscera; there is no mass to those bodies. I think that good sex writing would be writing that mass back in, and writing in all the parts of the body that have been sort of excluded from the sex act in descriptions. The digestive tract, the skin, the imperfections in the skin, what they mean, how it feels. I think what gives sex so much gravity is that you’re negotiating your body with another person. It’s not that you’re one, and that’s so wonderful, it’s that you’re actually doing this with another person and they don’t always do what you want them to do. And there’s friction, and it fails sometimes, and then it starts working later, or it fails for moments. That’s what’s bad for me.

EM:  I just want to add that what was dirty about you reading Fifty Shades of Grey , Ruth, is that you were the wrong body. I think if you take the text and put it over the right body, then it becomes another type of writing, another type of porn, another kind of permission to hear it. It’s almost like the text doesn’t matter.

AM:  I wrote a whole novel about a 16-year-old girl who really wants to have good sex, and women I knew were like, “Oh, man, hot.” I went through so much of that when I was a teenage girl myself, and men sometimes were like, “Teenage girls don’t want that. Teenage girls don’t think that way.” I mean progressive, good guys, were like, “Really?” I think sometimes writing gets called bad writing, untrue writing because it’s not heteronormative, it’s not the male gaze: it’s queer sex, it’s disabled sex, it’s not Philip Roth. Thank god for that.

PK:  A lot of what we’re talking about here, I think, is, from the perspective of this moment, and a lot of that is being dominated by white women too. So there are a lot of cultural factors at play, where I sometimes want to be like, “Okay, rad white feminists. This a great moment for you, and I’m with you mostly.” I’m sorry to even go here in a way because I know there are other people of color here—thank god, for once. But it’s also like, this conversation, when it just goes to white women, it becomes dangerous for a lot of the world. I’m watching people I really like on social media going off about the burkini, right? And it’s so hideous. Eileen, you have a great twitter essay about this, and you were literally the only white person I saw talk about the burkini in a sophisticated way. That to me is a major issue about women and the body right now, that we’re telling women half the time that they’re not wearing enough clothes, or they’re wanting to be covered up and then we tell them, no, you have to take it off—which, like Eileen was saying, it’s violence. So I always want these conversations to include other cultures as well because it’s different.

MF:  Me too, and this actually leads me to my next question about that. I want to talk about bodies that ignorant people try to silence. I’m thinking of many different categories of women: transgender people, disabled women, aging women, women of color, women who have been raped or sexually assaulted or abused, women of all body sizes, women with eating disorders, women who have strong opinions, women who are too scared to share their opinions, women who run for the presidency of the United States, mothers, child-free or childless women. How can we amplify all of the bodies this society tries to make invisible?

AM: Well, we can write them. Is it a trick question? We can write them, right? We can write them. We can read them. That’s the other thing; we can’t just write them. We have to buy and support independent booksellers, and the fiction and nonfiction that we want to read. It’s great to say we want literary fiction, but we have to go to our independent bookseller to buy those books. So we can write them, we can buy them, we can read them, and we can promote them. I think that’s how we amplify them. And we call out; we say, I don’t care that anyone loves this book by so and so, I think that the sex is heteronormative and white and not all that. I think we should do that as critics sometimes.

EM:  I’m having a hard time summing up what I’m trying to say. But I feel like part of the problem with—I don’t mean the question exactly—but when we talk about all these different bodies, the problem is the stillness of the question, or the stillness of the subject of identity, as if this is about a transgender person, and this is about an Asian person. We’re always kind of writing about books or thinking about books or text as if subject matter is this static frontal thing that’s squared in the center. I think the problem with the way so many bodies are written about is that they’re always not in passing. They’re being dissected and held still. Is this the real world in which people come onstage and offstage? I mean like, why isn’t there a minor despicable transgender character—just because that person exists rather—than those questions of is this a correct novel about a transgender person by a correct transgender author, you know what I mean? I think that we just live in this much more moving way which isn’t reflected in our text at all. I’m only starting to scrape the surface of it, but it’s framing; it’s like our conceptual frames are fucked up. That goes directly into the writing and the books are sold that way, are written about that way. And then the inadequacies of the writer are shown up in a particular way rather than the fact that the whole world is not true.

MF:  I think that’s so right, and I think we’re putting people into boxes too much, which is basically what you’re saying. We’re trying to say, this is the box they go in, and that’s bullshit.

EM:  The subject matter is a fiction.

AM:  For three and a half years I’ve had a partner who is a complete paraplegic, and I cannot tell you how writers—how editors, rather—wanted me to write about the complications of our sex life. And I was like, “Well, really there aren’t any.” And editors were like “No, no, no. We want to pay you a lot of money. We don’t want to pay you for these other things. We want to pay you a lot of money to write about this because we want to hear this story, because we thought here’s this frame, here’s this story of the disabled sex . . . ”

EM:  That’s exactly the other disabled sex story I know of from another writer who was telling me that she had written this book all about her incredible sex life, and they were like, “This is not possible.”

AM:  They wanted me to write that. That’s what they wanted me to write.

EM:  Hers was “too much.” It gets back to the clothes issue. It’s sort of like policing sex. It’s always this “too much.” It’s the wrong person having sex.

AM:  And the grappling. They wanted to do all this grappling. I told them, “Dude, that was 20 minutes over beer. We haven’t talked about it since.” What you’re saying, though, about the wrong person: it’s like we want women to be virginal and not have these desires, teenage girls don’t do this, and then all of a sudden we expect them to be these sex maidens when they’re 30. I don’t know how we expect them to get there. But we’ve sort of have been writing: teenage girls do this, women in their early 20s do this, and then in their 30s they do this, and then at 40 they stop having sex. [ Laughs ]

PK:  I think this stuff comes into a fever pitch, though, at times. I’m looking at this from a slightly different angle. It happens when we’re in times of extreme misogyny, or homophobia, or transphobia, or racism. Writing becomes this model minority trap where before I can write about, say, a Muslim woman who’s wearing a veil, she’s got to be presented as—I’m not saying she has to be—but my instinct would be, in this climate that we’re in today, to make that person a really good person instead of a bad person. Every fucking day I feel like I’m assaulted by this other message. It becomes very challenging to write completely freely when you’re in this environment that we’re in today. This election has just been, like: everything’s out there. It’s not like any of this got created by the election, but it’s really laid it bare, and it’s worse than I thought it was. It’s kind of hard to think of how to create within that.

MF:  Yeah, absolutely. Alexandra, you talked about the strangeness of the body, of writing about all of the body when you’re writing about sex. You said in an interview for Electric Lit, “Eating is something we do almost without thinking about it, but within that act is the crushing-up of another thing’s life structures with your own teeth, the pre-digestion inside the mouth, the genuine digestion in the stomach, the continual death on a large scale of bacteria living within us.” Aren’t you guys hungry right now? [ Laughs ] “We need it in order to get nutrients from food-material. It’s violent and amazing, and looking microscopically at this quotidian activity shows us something about how messy our lives are, whether we perceive it or not.” I feel like a lot of writers shy away from writing about bodily functions. Bodies are strangers, you remind us. And I wonder whether writing about this strangeness has made you feel it more acutely. Is that acknowledgement of our body’s strangeness liberating in itself, since recognizing it forces us to maybe suspend our ideals of cleanliness, perfection, or a narrow definition of health?

AK:  That’s a lot of questions. [ Laughs ] I came to writing about the body when I already had a writing practice going on, but I realized that I was treating my body like an impediment to writing. I was trying to sort of tamp it down when I got hungry, or when I got tried, or when I ate, or needed sleep. I was moving further away from my body and also being very unhealthy. And so part of what I wanted to do was take my body out of this obscure zone, or out of this sort of transparency zone where it seemed ignored or like someone had sent out an alarm. But then I don’t think that writing about my body at all was what brought me closer to it because I think there’s one way of focusing on the body that makes it almost dysmorphic to me. When you search up pathologies it becomes a constant source of pathology, and you can’t accept the perception of the fairly normal process in your body for a fairly normal process. Not every signal is an alarm, right? I started thinking about auscultation, an obsolete medical practice of listening to the body to try to assess what’s wrong with it, and working sort of on spending time—I don’t want to call it meditation because I’m not a professional—but listening to my body, and trying to pay more attention to it, and appreciate the signals it sends for what they are, I guess.

For me, the way back into my body was more thinking about these unseen processes, processes that I have to believe are going on but I can’t see traces of. And also thinking how they connect me to the world because the number one thing about my body, for me, is that it is my interface with the world. Without it there’s nothing for my mind to do. Although sometimes when your mind is really active you can almost believe it will go on by itself. But it doesn’t. It relies on the outside world. I feel like thinking about these processes, thinking about the bacteria, thinking about myself as an ecosystem actually makes me feel much more alive and much more in touch with what’s out there.

RO:  I think that really is a definition of meditation. It’s being a body. I mean, you’re sitting, you’re being a body, you’re paying attention to the signals. It is exactly that. It’s becoming aware of the body as an interface with the world, that there’s this interdependency that’s happening. It’s interesting because I think that when I’m teaching writing I always have my students sit first. They sit in silence first, and we do a body scan and just sort of settle and spend five minutes just being bodies, and then move from there into writing. It seems to me that literature works because we are all bodies, because we have bodies with which we respond to the world. Our readers do too. So when that experience is translated and evoked on the page, readers respond to it precisely because they do have bodies. If readers did not have bodies, we would not have literature. So the tie there between body and words is a really important one.

AK:  I used to work in cognitive science. We were testing body cognition in the language labs, so what we were exploring was this effect that when you hear the word hammer, you can actually see activation in the motor center; you can see a change in the muscles that use the hammer. It’s this sort of knowledge of the world that would be really hard to represent logically, or as a proposition, or to define. Like what is a hammer? It is an object. How do you use it? You can write pages on that. But words connect to the body in this really deep way and immediately.

MF:  I want to talk about gender and vulnerability. Eileen, you said in an interview with Slutever that when a man writes about his own experiences, he’s seen as vulnerable, but when a woman does it, she is criticized. And the word confessional is often used in a condescending tone to talk about women’s writing. So how do we get around that? How do we use our bodies on the page to fight that notion?

EM:  I think it’s more that it’s the same old thing. I think there are ideas of how women are and how men are. When men do certain things they’re supposedly being incredibly different and fresh. Like if a man writes in a personal way, or writes in an abject way, or writes about what a loser he is, or writes about how vulnerable . . . I mean it’s such a rage in the new kind of loser-guy film. It’s like, “Oh my god he’s so funny. He’s naked and he’s dancing. His girlfriend comes in and breaks up with him. That’s amazing.” But what female would be framed that way? That’s just what some sad, slutty girl would be doing and just getting dumped because girls always get dumped. So It’s sort of like we go through these ages of . . . I remember the first time I read in some magazine that different eras had a certain nose; all movie stars were supposed to have the 1930s nose and so on. I think that just in literature—in the 80s you were supposed to be a kind of postfeminist; every female narrator or even writer was the utter top. We really wanted the top female writer because there was no position, no area for masochism. I just feel I don’t identify as a body, but I definitely identify as a masochist, and masochistic storytelling being not so much, you know, constructing a story out of what’s there and dominating the material so much as not having an agenda before I go into it and start and what I find and then rearranging it accordingly. I know that as a female, I’m supposed to write this story and writing the story that I have instead is like gender action in a way.

MF:  I interviewed the incredible writer, who I think a lot of us on this panel really admire, Lidia Yuknavitch who writes about the body all the time and in fact has a class she teaches called Corporeal Writing. She said in the interview, “To my knowledge, no one’s corporeal experience is limited to the novelistic plot points I see supersaturating the market. We are more contradictory than that sexually. Our sexuality is far in excess of those puny stories. Our sexualities deserve better representation than traditional narrative has allowed. But I’m not doing anything new . Walt Whitman. Or Sappho. Or Duras. Or Acker. I mean, Jesus. Let the body go. Let it rise inside language and shatter the story.” How can you let the body go like Lidia suggests?

EM:  By not dying. [ Laughs ]

RO:  By not dying? I would say by dying. [ Laughs ]

AM:  I mean one thing I heard—and, Michele, you probably heard this too, I think you heard this that night when we did “Beyond Lolita”—one thing I heard from all the women who did the panel who write fiction is that there’s always this thing where people think you’re writing about yourself. I mean, I’ll tell you it’s a real thing. I can’t tell you how many men this year have said to me, “So, I read about Daisy in that story.” And it’s like, “Really?” They assume that it’s you and that’s what you want to do in bed. I’m going to write what’s true to the character. I’m going to write the character I want to write. I’m going to give the character the sex I want to give the character and not worry about that. But I heard from all of the women fiction writers, “Oh, where are all the people going to fit?” I heard from none of the men who were writing fiction but from all of the women fiction writers like Cheryl said when she wrote Torch, “I thought, oh, I want to have kids. What are the kids’ teachers going to think about these sex scenes I wrote?”

EM:  I sort of disagree in a way. I feel like everything you write is you. I just think it’s my choices. It’s not like, this is an illustration of the philosophy of Eileen, or my literal existence, but it’s my pornography. It’s the color I want to be with for chapters and chapters, it’s the period of history. The thing that’s weird, I think is, when somebody is overly excited and appropriative about your choice. I mean, every time a man does something to me that I feel like that’s fucked up. It’s like I’m passing through a hallway and somebody just touches my hip a little bit, because isn’t that appropriate? To make a little room around a gal? Like what the fuck! Don’t be an asshole. I think around that same remark . . . it sort of presupposes that you’re sexually available to this person, and that these are appropriate gestures—like you’re there in their field of vision, and this may be done.

AM:  Absolutely and, you know, there’s Judy Bloom. We don’t always think about Judy Bloom, but Judy Bloom talks about this really eloquently because she wrote Wifey,  where she has all this really hot sex going on, in the 70s, at the same time she was publishing Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and all that. She talks about giving your characters that stuff and not letting people appropriate you. Also, if you haven’t read Wifey yet, I suggest you all go do read it. That’s some good sex writing

RO:  I was just thinking of Virginia Woolf’s idea about killing the angel in the house. It was a lecture, actually, that she gave, but there’s this idea that in order to let the body go that the necessary step is to kill the angel in the house. And there are many ways of doing that, I think. But personally, it was very much about letting my father’s surname go. Ozeki is a pen name. I only started using it when my first novel was about to be published. It was fascinating. My father was dying at the time, and he’d been raised as a Christian fundamentalist. He had family who was still alive, and he was very proud of the fact that I was publishing a book. He knew that I always wanted to. But I could tell that there was something really disturbing him about it. And finally I just said, “I mean, yeah, there’s sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll in the book. Is this going to bother you that I’m publishing it under your name?” And he burst into tears and said, yes, he was afraid that his sister would find it because she was still a fundamentalist Christian, and that she would be ashamed. So it was like ,  ugh.  It was a blow. But I decided at that point to publish under a pseudonym, and it was the most amazing thing because I did the edit of that book knowing that I was going to be publishing under Ozeki. It was literally a feeling of letting the body go. All the crampedness, the restriction, it just disappeared. So I was able to edit it with the kind of freedom that I had never had in my writing before. It was really wonderful. The problem is now, of course, Ozeki is my name. So now I need another pseudonym if I’m going to start publishing Fifty Shades of Grey.

PK:  I think that’s really interesting because I think personally, as creators, it’s really important for us to let go. The thing of being a writer is you’re also a reader; you’re a consumer of art as well. What I like about this period, what I like about my students or the people that I’m around, is that they’re thinking more about the body, and how to approach different bodies, and how they should address bodies. So maybe that’s like what these politicians talk about as being politically correct. I see so much disdain around the word “consent,” a concept I think is really radical and really helpful and has saved lives. I think that I don’t really want to let go because I don’t think were there yet societally. We haven’t faced certain bodies. We haven’t thought of certain possibilities. How is it that we’re just now having discussions around trans people? How is it that a whole group has been invisible for so long? For the first time in my life, just in the last two years, we’re talking about what pronoun we want to use. I hear that being made fun of on late night TV or something, and it’s like, what’s so funny? Trans people were committing suicide. It’s too much work for you to use the right gender pronoun? It’s just really shocking to me, so I actually think that one of the right things about the internet—which has been in my head a lot in this panel—is that it does create a safe space for us to sit back and think a little bit, get information, and be exposed to different people without just projecting our selfhood onto different types of people. I think that thinking and moving slowly and holding on are also important.

MF:  I like that. Is the body related to empathy? The root of the word path, which means feeling or disease, would lead us to believe so. Empathy is such a buzz word these days, but what does it have to do with writing about bodies?

RF:  I think literature works because we have the ability to empathize. We have the ability to imagine, to inhabit other bodies, and so a writer who is doing her work well is creating an empathetic site, a site of empathy where you can lead your way into it somehow. You can write your way into it. You can read your way into it.

EM:  I think reading is empathetic. My decision about whether to keep reading a book or not is utterly an empathetic thing. I don’t just mean I feel for these characters, but it’s a question of the pace and the rhythm: Can I take this into my body and not resist? If I have to read that paragraph over and over again, am I enjoying this process? And then of course there is the fact of the things literally in this book. Are these things I want to have in my head and be in the room that I’m sitting in? I think empathetic is a word I’m really excited by.

AK:  I think that the body empathizes first. I think when you see someone, you can’t help but empathize with them. That’s part of why people react so strongly against people they don’t want to empathize with. They feel the feeling, and they reject it. I think it’s not that they see that person and see they have nothing in common with them; I think they don’t like being made to feel in common with them. The dumb example is if someone is biting their fingernails in the subway or something, it’s not that the sound annoys you or pushes you away, it’s that you’re thinking “I wouldn’t do that.” You’re imposing yourself on them. You’re pushing them away.

AM:  I think that’s also true with the confessional thing. I think that a lot of what we hear about confessional writing, and a lot of the reason that standard is considered to be different is because women have a lot of experiences commonly that a lot of men don’t have. Dramatically more women are sexually assaulted than men, so it’s like this whole other thing from what men are experiencing. It becomes this othered thing because of how it’s defined by men in a patriarchal culture. I think that the whole failure of empathy is the failure to reject the patriarchy. I think that when we don’t do that we fail to have empathy in what we’re approaching as both writers and readers, not to steal your line.

EM:  Confessional is such a weird word, as is the rise of it. It didn’t occur to me to look at who coined it when and in what fucking review and for what purpose. Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath in poetry. Or if you think about en plein air painting, it was a big weird thing when people suddenly decided not to write about the gods, or to sit out in the world and paint and use real things, use more peasant subject matter, and so on. It’s sort of like in poetry when people suddenly used life like yours. Whether you’re Robert Lowell or Sylvia Plath or whoever is doing it, it’s sort of disturbing the order of poetry and allowing the wrong thing in. Suddenly it’s almost like photography. I think with confessional . . . it’s so funny to think of such a private term erected, very phallically, to negate a whole practice that is actually the absolute opposite. It’s all about allowing. You make it be about denying.

PK: When I think back to confessional breakthroughs, I was just telling my students this, the two things that for me were confessional breakthroughs in my life were, one, telling a room full of strangers that I’d been sexually assaulted. That was a big one. I think a lot of people share that. The other one was telling people that I had a mustache growing up. That was somehow harder than talking about being raped. I just remember the first time I decided to blurt it, I think it was when my first novel came out, I just sort of said it, and I looked everybody in the eye in the audience like, “Okay, what do you want to say? Look at me now.” I didn’t even know what I was doing. I was trying to be like, “But I look good, right?” I don’t even know what I was trying to say. I was just like, “Why don’t we talk about the fact that some women have mustaches. It’s totally normal. Who cares?” [ Laughs ] But it’s sad to me that I went home feeling like I got a trophy for that because it was this confessional breakthrough for me. It felt like I released something, that I could go on. But it feels like we have these things which we’re not allowed to say.

EM:  I remember a million years ago with a poem I suddenly just put in, “I’m not a bad looking woman, I suppose,” and it was so fucking radical to say that because I knew in that moment I would be reading out loud, that people were looking at me. They would be thinking about what I was thinking about myself, and how I look, and I am a little vain. I mean, I was like 30, and I just thought, I’m fucking saying that I think I’m kind of hot . And then of course it was wrong on so many levels, even for me personally, who I thought of myself as. But that is art and poetry: just make the wrong move and feel all the light kind of shift.

RO:  And you’re still using the double negative. “I’m not a bad looking woman.”

MF:  I want to ask a question about body and trauma, and I’m going to ask the question by quoting the wonderful Claudia Rankine from Citizen . “How to care for the injured body, the kind of body that can’t hold the content it is living? And where is the safest place when that place must be someplace other than in the body?”

EM:  That’s a complicated one.

PK:  That’s hard to disassociate from the context of Citizen , especially given even just this week’s news, that you can have a black man just reading a book or leaving a music appreciation class and get shot. To me, it’s almost impossible to divorce that quote specifically from race. Of course you can apply it to different types of identity. But then I think, that’s the dilemma of a lot of what we’re talking about in this panel, too, because the problem is that we’re so visual as people, right? I think that’s our dominant sense. I take that for granted because I learned everything from hearing mostly, and I’m not that visual. But we are as a culture, and so with that comes all sorts of wrongseeing and then hopefully not wrongdoing, but it’s sort of the basis of all sorts of sickening prejudices.

EM:  I think you have to disable the text in some way to deal with difference and disability. I always think of Jonathan Franzen. I read The Corrections by accident. I lost something at the airport, and I kept going back to the lost and found, and they finally just let me all the way in the back room to the big gray chest and said, “Well, take whatever you want. There are a lot of notebooks and books here.” I saw The Corrections , and I thought, “Why not?” I thought it wasn’t bad. It was a good read, but what was really weird is when you got to the part where the father was having hallucinations, he couldn’t write that. I thought that’s so weird he can’t . . . he’s such a straight dude that he can’t imagine an altered state. I thought, any poet could write this scene. Anybody could do seeing shit, hallucinating. He couldn’t do that. I thought there was so much about ability of this. I don’t mean to take him out. He’s not a bad guy. But just as an example of something that was an alteration that couldn’t be written and that was somebody else’s cup of tea.

AM:  I think the way you care for the traumatized body and the traumatized experience of so many of us is to tell it truthfully. I know that sounds obvious but truthfully, with a capital T. I think you don’t call it violence. You spell out what it is step by step. I have this piece called “The Church of Dead Girls” where I just walk through what happened to a girl who was killed. I got the transcript from her mother of the police report of what had happened to her body; what had happened to her before she was raped and then murdered. I think if we stop and think, this is what happens, this is what trauma looks like, and we talk about trauma in real ways . . . I’m not saying that people should write their trauma if they’re not comfortable writing their trauma or if it’s going to be re-traumatizing for them. I’m not saying that. But I think the more we look at trauma, the more we spell it out in a truthful way, both what it is and the repercussions of it, I think that’s how we capture this society and also force it in and care for ourselves.

RO:  I think the question also relates back to the question about empathy. We’re blessed with these imaginations and empathy is not something passive. It’s active. It’s something that we can do both as writers and as readers. But especially as writers. We have the duty to go beyond and unpack the convenient phrases.

Feature photo by Sean Fitzroy.

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  • ACADEMIC ADVICE

How to Write a Body Paragraph?

  • December 2, 2021

Table of Contents

What is a body paragraph, what are the elements of a body paragraph, how to start a body paragraph, how to end a body paragraph, why is a body paragraph important.

We’ve all heard our professors say a well-written essay has two main qualities: they are coherent and concise. The problem is many students don’t know how to go about writing such essays. Fortunately, if you have the right arguments to support your thesis statement, it is only a matter of structuring them. This is where body paragraphs come into play.

Body paragraphs are all the paragraphs that make up an article of writing, with the exception of the very first and last one, i.e., introduction and conclusion. They may vary in terms of length, topic, or content but all written work must contain body paragraphs in order for it to make sense. While an article of writing (e.g., essay) can’t be complete without a proper introduction and conclusion, its essence and reason for existing lies in the body paragraphs.

We think of body paragraphs as essays that have been shrunken down—fun-size essays, if you will. Much like an essay, a body paragraph is made of a few components:

Transitions: Words, expressions, or even whole sentences used at the beginning or end of a body paragraph in order to achieve a continuous glide between paragraphs.

Topic sentence: The first sentence in a body paragraph that acts as the introduction of said paragraph.

Supporting sentences: Used to back up the claim made in the topic sentence with relevant facts and arguments.

Concluding sentence: Used to wrap up the whole idea of the paragraph by summarizing it.

As we’ve already mentioned, a body paragraph resembles an essay structure-wise. Length-wise, on the other hand — not so much. This means you have only a few sentences to get your point across so:

  • Write with intent. Body paragraphs exist because of a claim you made in your thesis statement, and their primary purpose is to back up that claim. This is where you use facts, statistics, experiments, etc., to convince your reader of your point.
  • Plan beforehand. Sure, having convincing arguments to support your claims is essential, but you must also know how to structure them. Use an outline and also have your arguments ready to see what fits where best.

We start a paragraph with a topic sentence. Through this sentence we let our readers know what will be discussed in the rest of the paragraph by making a claim or stating a fact through the topic sentence. You can use a simple statement or even ask a question, but the topic sentence should always make clear to the reader the purpose of the paragraph.

After you’ve provided sufficient arguments or evidence to support your topic sentence, it’s time for the grand finale- wrapping it up. How you end things is often as important as how you start them, so make sure to use your concluding sentence wisely. In a concise, non-repetitive, and preferably clever way, summarize your point in the paragraph. Go out with a bang by leaving your readers informed and impressed.

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The body part of your essay, composed of body paragraphs, is the very essence of your essay. Body paragraphs are the ideal structure for most, if not all, articles of writing. You see, in writing, we don’t have such things as intonation or body language, so we use body paragraphs to make our arguments as comprehensible as possible.

So, dividing the body of an essay into shorter sections like paragraphs can make even the most complex work accessible to most people. Learning to structure your writing into paragraphs ensures a simpler writing process for you, and a fairly undemanding, fun piece for your readers.

Bay Atlantic University

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Writing the Body: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Maggie Nelson, & Lidia Yuknavitch

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The age of media and internet is one of fractal, ephemeral bodies—well-curated images of the self from certain angles and frozen in time, dust-coated corpses at the aftermath of a quake that provide little context, statistics and numbers that break down how many and what ages and when, yet provide little to no feeling. The body in writing is a vessel to feeling—to empathy. Reading Lidia Yuknavitch , Maggie Nelson , Ta-Nehisi Coates , among others, is to feel.

At a recent lecture , Maggie Nelson said that a “ringing sense of mortality […] underscores everything we write.” The body, unlike the internet, is finite. It is deeply personal and universal—we all have one, but we only ever experience our own. Lidia Yuknavitch says , “we live by and through the body, and the body, is a walking contradiction.” Meaning, a body can be both beautiful and violent, and often fosters both simultaneously—new life and eventual death. Lidia Yuknavitch’s anti-memoir The Chronology of Water opens with a stillborn, rooting the reader in the author’s body at a certain place in time.

Our bodies change with age, disease, new life, new diets, new cities: “A membrane can simply rip off your life, like a skin of congealed paint torn off the top of a can” ( Nelson ). To write about the body at a certain place in time is to capture changes, to investigate personal experience as it speaks to society and culture. Questions arise from inhabiting another’s body: what causes a stillborn birth, what resources are available for mothers, what is the physical toll, what are the societal stigmas, what is it like to become paralyzed, what is it like to be a black body, what is it like to be a woman, what is it like to be fluidly gendered?

Genevieve Hudson notes that Yuknavitch’s “prose inhabits the experience of living inside of limbs and guts and skin. As a reader, it allows us to feel the experience in a tangible way instead of just noting the emotional register in the character from afar.”

Maggie Nelson writes not just about her own physical experiences in Bluets , but also of her friend’s body as it changes after an accident:

Over time my injured friend’s feet have become blue and smooth from disuse. Their blue is the blue of skim milk, their smoothness that of a baby’s. I think they look and feel very strange and beautiful. She does not agree. How could she—this is her body; its transformations, her grief. Often we examine parts of her body together, as if their paralysis had rendered them objects of inquiry independent of us both. But they are still hers. No matter what happens to our bodies in our lifetimes, no matter if they become ‘like pebbles in water,’ they remain ours; us, theirs.

Ta-Nehisi Coates begins Between the World and Me by recounting an interview, where “the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body.” The author and the newscaster are not physically in the same room. “A satellite closed the miles between us, but no machinery could close the gap between her world and the world for which I had been summoned to speak.”

Coates mentions “the body” nearly a hundred times in over a hundred and fifty pages. When he writes about “her world and the world for which I had been summoned to speak,” I interpret “world” not as social, economic, or political spheres, but as the body. We can only ever speak to our own bodies, and yet certain circles forget this and encroach on the bodies of others, forgetting that there are gaps between us. Yet Coates does not forget—cannot forget. He writes to his son, “The women around you must be responsible for their bodies in a way that you will never know.” The New Yorker adds, “the lesson stops there. The dangers of living in a black female body are mysterious, forever unknowable.”

Except that the dangers and joys are not unknowable—not to black females, and expressed by the likes of Toni Morrison , bell hooks , and Claudia Rankine . Coates recognizes the limits of his knowing—the book is grounded in his experience—and he doesn’t speak for black women. Mainly, he admires and adores them, yet doesn’t claim to know what it is like for them to be, to exist.

Lidia Yuknavitch writes , “With Marguerite Duras, you must lie down on a bed in an apartment in a foreign city—foreign to you—foreign enough so that you become the foreigner.” To inhabit someone else’s body in prose is to be a kind of foreigner—an outsider with an insider’s access. And isn’t that why we read? To inhabit other perspectives or forms, to empathize, all the while understanding the limits of our physical being?

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e.v. de cleyre is a semi-nomadic writer. A contributing blogger for Ploughshares online, her essays and reviews have appeared in Brevity, The Review Review, and ayris.

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MASTER LIST of Gestures and Body Language!

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Gestures and body language

matter a lot in fiction because nonverbal communication is so important. Gestures can help readers visualize a scene and get a feel for the characters. They can also set up lines of dialogue so you don’t have a string of he said, she said, he asked, etc., running down the page.

How to describe body language and gestures in writing may seem simple, but I find that when I’m in the middle of writing a scene, sometimes I draw a blank! It’s easy to wind up with characters who are nodding and shrugging all the time. Hopefully this list will help make writing body language easier.

Master List of Gestures and Body Language #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers bryn donovan pdf #describing body language in writing #how to describe body language in writing #words to describe body language #NaNoWriMo #words to describe body language #words to describe gestures #writing body language

You might want to consider which gestures or what body language is typical for each of your characters. For instance, one of my characters in the novel I just finished tends to hug herself when she’s nervous, while another has a habit of rubbing at his shoulder when he’s uncomfortable. They only do it a few times each throughout the book, but I think details like that make characters feel more solid.

For a great guide to what body language means, I recommend What Every BODY Is Saying , by former FBI counterintelligence offer Joe Navarro and body language expert Marvin Karlins.

Some of the things in my list are not exactly body language or gestures, but are useful for dialogue tags. As with my list of facial expressions , I’ve included some different ways to say the same thing. There are some longer phrases and sentences, which you can obviously rewrite and adjust as you like, although you don’t have to.

Let me know if you have gestures or body language to add to this list! 

Master List of Gestures and Body Language

he lowered his head she hung her head he ducked she bowed her head he covered his eyes with a hand she pressed her hands to her cheeks

she raised her chin he lifted his chin

her hands squeezed into fists his hands tightened into fists she clenched her fists she balled her fists he unclenched his fists her arms remained at her sides

he shrugged she gave a half shrug he lifted his shoulder in a half shrug she gave a dismissive wave of her hand

she raised a hand in greeting he waved

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she held up her hands he lifted his hands she held up her palms he threw his hands in the air she brushed her palms together he rubbed his hands together she made a steeple of her fingers he spread his hands they gesticulated he waved his hands she clapped her hands he snapped his fingers she held up a finger he pointed she gestured with a thumb he jerked his thumb toward… she extended her middle finger toward him he gave her the finger she gave him the thumbs up

she put her hands on her hips she shoved her hands in her pockets he jammed his hands in his front pockets she rested a hand on her hip she jutted out her hip

she folded her arms he crossed his arms over his chest she hugged herself he wrapped his arms around himself she rocked back and forth

she spread her arms wide he held out his arms she held out her hand they extended a hand

he shook his head she nodded he bobbed his head she tilted her head he cocked his head she inclined her head he jerked her head in the direction of… she turned her face away he looked away

his breaths quickened she panted she was breathing hard his chest rose and fell with rapid breaths she took in a deep breath he drew in a long breath she took in a sharp breath he gasped she held her breath he let out a harsh breath she exhaled he blew out his cheeks she huffed he sighed she snorted

she laughed he giggled she guffawed he chuckled she gave a bitter laugh he gave mirthless laugh she tittered he cackled

she rubbed her shoulder he kneaded his shoulder he rolled his shoulders she tensed her shoulders he massaged the back of his neck she rubbed her temples she rubbed her hands on her thighs

she ran her hand through her hair he threaded a hand through his hair he raked his fingers through his hair he shoved his hair back away from his face she toyed with a lock of hair she played with her hair she twirled her hair she wrapped a curl around her finger she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear she undid her ponytail and shook out her hair she tossed her hair he buried his hands in his hair he stroked his beard he scratched his beard

she tugged at her earlobe he bit a nail she chewed on a cuticle she picked at her nails she inspected her fingernails he plucked at the cuff of his shirt she picked a piece of lint from her sleeve he adjusted the lapels of his jacket she fiddled with her earring / bracelet he twisted the wedding ring on his finger she played with her cell phone he tugged at his shirt collar he adjusted his tie she smoothed down her skirt

she scratched her nose he scratched his head he rubbed his forehead she rubbed her eyes she pinched the bridge of her nose he held his nose

she slapped her forehead he smacked his forehead he facepalmed he slapped a hand over her mouth she covered her mouth with her hand she pressed her fingers to her lips he held his finger up to his lips he rubbed his chin

she pressed a hand to her throat he clutched his chest he leaned against the wall she bounced on her toes she jumped up and down he tapped his foot she stomped her foot

she folded her hands in her lap she drummed her fingers on the table he tapped his fingers on the table he slammed his hand on the table she pounded her fist on the table she set her palms down flat on the table he rested his hands on the table she set her hands on the table, palms up he leaned back in his chair she hooked her feet around the chair legs he gripped the arm of the chair she put her hands behind her head he put his feet on the desk they fidgeted she jiggled her foot he swung his leg she crossed her legs he uncrossed his legs she crossed her ankles in front of her she stretched out her legs in front of her he sprawled out he put his feet on the desk

she cringed he shuddered she flinched he shivered she trembled his body shook she cowered he shrank from… she huddled in the corner

she gestured with her coffee cup

they gesture with their pen

he pulled away she jerked away he turned away she jolted upright he stiffened she straightened he tensed he jumped she jumped to her feet he stood up she rose from her seat

she relaxed he hunched she slouched her shoulders sagged his shoulders slumped she wilted he went limp he rolled his shoulders she squared her shoulders

she clasped her hands behind her back he puffed out his chest she thrust out her chest

he propped his chin on his hand she rested her chin on her palm he yawned she stretched

he turned around she whirled around he pivoted she reeled

she stepped away she drew nearer he leaned closer she inched forward he loomed closer he paced she shifted from one foot to the other he swayed on his feet she dragged her feet

she pumped a fist he thrust his fists in the air she punched the air

A slightly expanded version of this list of body language and gestures appears in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More. Click on the cover to check it out!

Master Lists for Writers by Bryn Donovan #master lists for writers free pdf #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers free kindle

Do you have thoughts or advice about how to use gestures or describe body language in writing? Let us know in the comments! Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

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Writing the Body in Literature and Culture

Key information, module code:, credit value:, module description.

Until recently, the physical body has been a much-neglected subject of contemporary women's writing, whether fictional or autobiographical. Theoretical writings that emerged from contemporary feminist debates in the latter part of the twentieth century tended to privilege more psychoanalytic or abstract considerations of the corporeal. Feminist thought's differentiation of sex and gender, and consequent drive to dissociate biology from determinism and to emphasise the power of the rational female mind may further account for the only recent emergence of the body as a subject worthy of critical and literary analysis. How can language capture the physiological changes and states undergone by the body? Is the 'unspeakable' nature of certain physiological experiences compounded by their unspoken nature, their taboo status? This module seeks to redress that imbalance by focusing more on the materiality of bodies (principally female or non-binary) as they evolve through a series of life events or experiences: abortion; motherhood; transition and ageing. It locates the body in different epochs and national contexts in order to examine the relationship between subjectivity, corporeality and identity more broadly. The content of this module will also be supplemented with audiovisual and filmic representations of the body as part of its secondary corpus. All texts on this module are available in translation.

Assessment details

one 4000-word essay (100%)

Educational aims & objectives

  • To introduce students to the literary, historicaland cultural contexts of twentieth-century and twenty-first century women's writing
  • To deepen students' knowledge of different genres dealing withrepresentations of the body: theory, fiction(including the short story), autobiography, and the essay
  • To introduce students to (or to consolidate their prior knowledge of) theories of corporeality and the body in relation to women's writing in particular

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will:

  • demonstrate sound knowledge of the various contexts of the twentieth- and twenty-first century writing dealing with representations of the body
  • be able to analyse a generically diverse selection of texts dealing with corporeality by placing them in their context and by adopting different theoretical approaches
  • have developed a series of transferable skills (essay writing, textual analysis, individual or group presentations)
  • have gained an insight into the specificities of writing the body from a female and feminist

Teaching pattern

two hour seminar, weekly

Suggested reading list

Marie Darrieussecq, Truismes (Paris: POL, 1996) Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales , trans. by Linda Coverdale (London: Faber and Faber, 1997)

Diamela Eltit, Jamás el fuego nunca (Cáceres: Editorial Periférica, 2013) Diamela Eltit, Never Did the Fire , trans. by Daniel Hahn (Edinburgh: Charco Press, 2022)

Annie Ernaux, Les Armoires Vides (Paris: Gallimard, 1974). Annie Ernaux, Cleaned Out , trans. by Carol Sanders (Normal, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 1996).

Annie Ernaux, L'évenement (Paris: Gallimard, 2001) (French original). Annie Ernaux, Happening , trans. by Tanya Leslie (New York: Seven Stories, 2019).

Jenny Erpenbeck, Die Geschichte vom alten Kind (Frankfurt am Main: btb, 2001). Jenny Erpenbeck, 'The Old Child', in The Old Child and the Book of Words , trans. by Susan Bernofsky (London: Portobello, 2008).

Ariana Harwicz, Mátate, amor (San José, Costa Rica: Ediciones Lanzallamas, 2012) Ariana Harwicz, Die, My Love, trans. by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff (Edinburgh: Charco Press, 2017)

Sasha Marianna Salzmann, Ausser sich (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2017). Sasha Marianna Salzmann, Beside Myself , trans. by Imogen Taylor (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2019).

Subject areas

  • Arts & Humanities
  • Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Module description disclaimer

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.

Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.

Body of Writing

body of a writing

Body of Writing – Philip Hood

Body of Writing is a collection of poetry threads created since 2017. More work will be added to each thread as it is written and some editing may occur to material which is already published on the site.

The threads sometimes interweave; landscape and climate themes appear extensively alongside reflections on human activity through time, especially within the landscapes where people are rooted, where they live and work. Some of the writing explores geological or botanical ‘life’ within those landscapes. The landscapes in focus are often drawn from the North East of England but Scotland and Northern Europe are also present.

The threads, none of which are yet complete, are accessible via the menu button above and currently consist of:

Ten Miles of Coast (featuring the coastline between Cresswell and Amble, Northumberland)

A soft southerner approaches the Pitmen Painters (featuring an incomer’s response to some of the artwork of the Ashington Group located at Woodhorn Museum. This equates to a bridge in the poet’s growing understanding and not any kind of evaluation of the artwork)

Rocks and Plants, (featuring botanical and geological themes, arranged at random as are rocks and plants)

The Isle of Mull , (featuring poetry written on two initial visits to the island)

Chaunce and Allotment (featuring poems which consider issues around the use of land and its ownership through time; additionally the themes include the ways in which land-based resources are exploited and managed)

Other Geographies (featuring poems rooted outside the UK)

Infrastructures (featuring poems which juxtapose perceptions of the nature of living spaces of humans and other life-forms, for example those of seabirds who literally live in the air and in water)

A blog about poetry and poetics (still in formation)

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The 'holy grail' of longevity foods this doctor eats every day—it protects you 'like a suit of armor'

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As a longevity researcher and regenerative medicine doctor , I've spent more than 20 years helping people develop healthy habits to live longer.

Blueberries are one of the foods I eat everyday to promote longevity. They are tasty, low in calories, and filled with vitamins and antioxidants that protect your body from infection like a suit of armor.

Here's why I consider it the holy grail of longevity-boosting foods:

1. They strengthen your cells 

Antioxidants help defend healthy cells , prevent further damage, and are involved in processes that repair DNA — and blueberries have a lot of them . They are very high in antioxidants called anthocyanins , which is what makes them blue.

In addition to creating that vivid color, anthocyanins are thought to improve cognitive performance and vascular function . 

2. They are great for your eyesight

One cup of blueberries contains 16% of the daily value of vitamin C, which is known to boost eye health.

Vitamin C can help prevent age-related macular degeneration and reduce cellular oxidative stress in the retina, essentially making your eyes less susceptible to decline. 

3. They help with muscle recovery

Research is ongoing, but blueberries have been found to reduce muscle damage and soreness.

The vitamin C in the berries also promotes iron absorption and increases the production of collagen, the tissue that connects your bones and muscles.

One cup of blueberries contains 24% of the daily value of vitamin K , which helps with building bones and blood clotting. 

4. They boost your brain health 

Along with physical benefits, studies have found that the antioxidants in blueberries could affect areas of your brain that are crucial for intelligence.

One study of over 16,000 people found that blueberries and strawberries were linked to delaying mental aging by up to two and a half years.

5. They reduce inflammation

Research has shown that the fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in blueberries can help reduce inflammation and additional risk factors for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Blueberries also have a prebiotic effect that regulates bacteria, relieves gut inflammation , and can help to prevent colon cancer.

6. They lower cholesterol 

Since blueberries are high in soluble fiber, they help to remove the bile in our gut, as well as things like fatty acids, salts, metals and bilrubin — a substance created from the breaking down of red blood cells.

This process can reduce bad cholesterol and also lower your risk of heart disease .

My favorite ways to eat blueberries 

There are a number of ways to incorporate blueberries into your diet. I like adding them to salads and smoothies, snacking on them between meals, or mixing them into oatmeal. 

While you'll likely get the most from blueberries by eating them raw, and some studies so show that baking and heat will lower the number of anthocyanins , consuming them in any form (like dried or frozen) will still provide benefits. 

Ultimately, blueberries are one small piece of the longevity puzzle. Including them in a rich and varied diet, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and managing stress can all help you lead a happier, healthier and longer life .

Want to land your dream job in 2024?   Take CNBC's new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview  to learn what hiring managers are really looking for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay. Get started today and save 50% with discount code EARLYBIRD.

Dr. Neil Paulvin  is a longevity and regenerative medicine doctor and host of the  Life Optimized  podcast. As a leading expert in biohacking and human optimization, Dr. Paulvin is recognized for his exceptional work applying a hyper-personal approach to help his patients — including Fortune 500 executives, Olympic athletes and A-list celebrities — optimize their health. Follow him on  YouTube  and  Instagram .

Harvard nutritionist: This is the No. 1 vitamin to keep your brain sharp

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Owners worry Cybertruck of the future rusts after rain

Cybertruck owners writing in an online forum said they spotted orange splotches on the body of their vehicle days after exposing it to water.

By Mack DeGeurin | Published Feb 14, 2024 3:00 PM EST

Tesla’s rugged Cybertruck design can power a home and stop smalls arms fire, but some owners claim it has issues with exposures to water.

Since introducing Tesla’s futuristic, angular designed Cybertruck back in 2019, CEO Elon Musk has at times described the 6,603 pound stainless steel behemoth as “ badass ” “ literally bulletproof ” and possibly “ the best product ever .” But growing complaints from actual Cybertruck owners online say the rugged, all-electric, end-times enduring vehicle may have an unexpected problem: water. 

Cybertruck owners writing in online forums since the truck’s official launch in December have reported noticing small orange dots popping up on the surface of their trucks which they say appear to resemble rust. These customers cited a Cybertruck user manual which advises owners to meticulously maintain the vehicles in order to avoid corrosion and other surface damage. That expectation of scrupulous care seems to contradict Tesla’s own marketing characterizing the Cybertruck as a tough, off-roading hulk meant to rival heavy-story truck models offered by veteran carmakers like Ford and Toyota. 

Cybertruck owners are reporting odd, orange splotches that look like rust 

Heated discussion over the alleged rusting broke out in an online forum called the Cybertruck Owners Club . One commenter going by the name Raxar claims he drove his vehicle through heavy rain in Dublin, Ireland after picking it up and quickly noticed several small orange specks and water spots on the exterior of the vehicle. Raxar says a Tesla representative told him the Cybertruck can “develop orange rust marks” following exposure to rain. The commenter posted several photos purporting to show the odd orange splotches . 

Another driver writing on the forum claims he also noticed similar orange specs appearing on the exterior of his car after driving it through heavy Los Angeles rain. When he took it into a Tesla facility for inspection he claims he was told a representative “documented the corrosion” and told him they would call next month to perform a service. The Cybertruck owner, who went by the username vertigo3pc, claims the Tesla worker told him they have a “procedure” for addressing the issue but said they did not have the tools on hand to make the necessary repair. He claims he noticed the orange spots after driving his truck just 381 miles. 

Can stainless steel rust? 

Tesla did not immediately respond to PopSci’s requests for comment asking if the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exterior is susceptible to rust. But can stainless steel even rust in the first place? The short answer, according to metal metal supplier Mead Metals, is yes, however it’s less prone to corrosion than other alternative metals. Chromium, one of the elements found in stainless steel, is responsible for its notably higher rust and corrosion resistance. 

“Despite being known for its extremely corrosion-resistant features, stainless steel is prone to rust in certain circumstances,” Mead Metals writes in a blog post . “Although rusty metals are often a result of water exposure, stainless steel will also rust from exposure to damaging chemicals, saline, grease, or prolonged exposure to heat.”

Some Tesla owners commenting in the online forum pushed back against the rust claims and instead said the orange spots may have been caused by carbon dust or other debris from the road. Others, meanwhile, posted screenshots of vehiclce’s owners manual which advises owners to immediately remove any potentially corrosive materials sticking to the car’s body, which could include grease, oil, bird droppings, or dead insects. 

 “To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.),” the manual reportedly reads. “Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash.”

That Cybertruck owner’s manual , which isn’t available to the general public yet, appears to note that the base Cybertruck does not have a “clear coat” which means that scratches or other abnormalities that appear only on the surface of the vehicle are in fact in the steel panels themselves. The manual advises Cybertruck owners to use denatured alcohol to remove any tar spots or grease stains from the vehicle’s exterior and then “immediately” wash the affected area with water and a miled, non-detergent soap. Cybertruck owners can opt to purchase an option, clear paint film to their vehicle for an additional $5,000 according to the company’s website. A black or white film is also available for $6,000 . 

Cybertruck owners commenting on the forum offered their own solutions. One owner claimed cleaning the affected areas with Bar Keepers Friend and Windex appeared to solve the issue. It should be noted though that the Tesla owner’s manual appears to advise owners against trying certain DIY efforts. The company, according to the manual, notes it won’t be held liable for damages sustained to the vehicle if user’s failed to abide by those guides. Another Cybertruck owner commenting on the forum offered a blunter solution: just don’t get the truck wet.

“I think as long as you don’t drive it in the rain,” the commenter wrote, “It will be fine…” Others advised owners of the luxury off-road vehicle to “cover that sucker during transport.” 

CEO Elon Musk’s parchment for stainless steel extends beyond Cybertruck or even Tesla. SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace venture, has long-used stainless steel as the main build material for its Starship rocket due to the material’s high melting point and, maybe more importantly, it’s more affordable cost relative to more widely used carbon fiber . Responding to customer concerns over scratches resulting from off-roading, Musk previously said Tesla could offer an option “basically-scratch proof” tungsten carbide coating for an additional fee. It’s unclear if Tesla intends to actually follow through with that idea.

We might be able to offer an optional tungsten carbide coating, which is basically scratch-proof to everything below diamond hardness — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 14, 2023

Cybertruck owners report series of odd design choices 

The alleged rust issue, if true, marks one of several growing quality complaints lodged against the Cybertruck which cuts against its tough and rugged premium image presented in marketing materials. Reporting from The Verge last year showed how the Cybertruck’s unconventional design led the company to attach multiple standard windshield wipers together in order to reach across the car’s wide front windshield. Reviewers on YouTube meanwhile have shown how the truck’s sharp angular front trunk can slice through carrots, apples, and hot dogs, when closed too quickly . Other Cybertruck owners have complained the vehicle’s stainless steel exterior annoyingly makes its a fingerprint magnet .

Inconsistencies in quality and unmatched expectations have fueled criticism of Tesla vehicles broadly. In recent years, US regulators have opened investigations into the company after customers reported some models shockingly breaking unexpectedly . More recently, a Reuters investigation claims Tesla appeared to blame drivers for faulty suspensions and other parts failure the company knew were defective. Tesla may have jump-started the industry-wide pivot to electric vehicles, but actual owners don’t seem to be getting exactly what they asked for in every case. 

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Police find body of missing 5-year-old Darnell Taylor, foster mother faces murder charge

body of a writing

Authorities say that 5-year-old Darnell Taylor , who had been missing since early Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, has been found dead. Police say his foster mother will now face murder charges.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant made the announcement Friday morning at a press conference.

Police took the child's foster mother, Pammy Maye , into custody shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday night in the 4000 block of Tiedeman Road in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn. Police found her wandering in a nightgown, and she told investigators where they could locate Darnell's body, Bryant said.

Maye told police that she left Darnell's body in a sewage drain in the 1000 block of Marsdale Avenue in Franklin County. Investigators located the body shortly after 1 a.m. Friday.

Darnell had been  the subject of an Ohio Amber Alert since early Wednesday when his foster father called 911 around 3 a.m. to say his wife had told him the boy was dead, and he couldn't find the boy in the house on the 900 block of Reeb Avenue.

Officers searched Maye's family and friends' homes looking for her and the child before requesting a statewide Amber Alert, which was issued after 5 a.m., though delivery issues were reported with the system.

Franklin County Children Services said Thursday that Maye and her husband had become the legal custodians of Darnell, despite police calling Maye the foster mother of Darnell.

Who is Pammy Maye?

Maye remains in custody, and Bryant said police will seek to add murder charges to counts of kidnapping and endangering children. Maye has been Darnell's foster mother since May 2023, according to Columbus police and the  Ohio Amber Alert website .

Bryant said that police have notified Darnell's biological family of the death and Maye's arrest.

Court records do not yet detail when Maye is expected to make her first appearance in court in Franklin County. Maye has no discernible criminal history. Public records show that she and her husband married in 1998 and bought their Reeb Avenue home in 2021. 

Learn more on case: What we know about Darnell Taylor kidnapping and Pammy Maye

Police searched neighborhood around Pammy Maye's home

A Columbus police officer in a patrol car sat guard Thursday afternoon outside Maye’s Reeb Avenue home and told reporters no one was home and not to approach.

Neighbors who spoke to The Dispatch at their residences Thursday said they did not know Maye except in passing. They said that area of Reeb Avenue was generally a quiet neighborhood.

Neighbor Saria Guardado, whose son acted as a translator during the interview, said she had only interacted with Maye once, when the woman dropped off some vegetables. While she spoke with The Dispatch, an officer came to her side door to ask permission to search the garage, which she granted.

Another neighbor said she’d provided Ring doorbell footage to police, though it didn’t appear to her that any of the footage would be useful.

Police had asked residents in the 43207 ZIP code, which is in the South Alum Creek neighborhood in Columbus' South Side that includes the Reeb Avenue home where the foster mother and child reside, to search their property for anything that may look suspicious or out of place. Court filings and the searches Thursday suggest police are concerned that the boy may have been left somewhere in the area.

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body of a writing

Nuitrack - Real-time body tracking

Nuitrack - real-time body tracking for Unreal Engine 5. It could be used without writing any code, simply connecting Nodes in Blueprints

  • Supported Platforms
  • Supported Engine Versions 5.2 - 5.3
  • Download Type Engine Plugin This product contains a code plugin, complete with pre-built binaries and all its source code that integrates with Unreal Engine, which can be installed to an engine version of your choice then enabled on a per-project basis.

Description

Nuitrack - real-time body tracking for  Unreal Engine 5 . It could be used without writing any code, simply connecting  Nodes  in  Blueprints  

It’s perfect for developing games, fitness apps and other interactive projects with body tracking.

Get started with examples showing different Nuitrack capabilities:

  • SkeletonJoints - check what the camera sees and how the skeleton joints are tracked
  • AvatarMannequin - animate a game character using Nuitrack skeleton 
  • FittingRoom - how to create a virtual fitting room 
  • GesturesDemo - demonstrates how the gesture recognition works 
  • HandTracker - how to use hand tracking to interact with the UI 

If you’re interested in Skeleton Tracking with Orbbec, Intel RealSense or Microsoft Xbox Kinect sensors (v1, v2, Azure), you’re welcome to try

https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/update-real-time-full-body-tracking-for-ue5-nuitrack-plugin/1331349

Technical Details

  • Real-time body tracking

Code Modules:

  •  NuitrackModule

Number of Blueprints: 10

Number of C++ Classes: 62

Network Replicated: No

Supported Development Platforms: Windows

Supported Target Build Platforms: Windows

Documentation: https://github.com/3DiVi/nuitrack-sdk

Important/Additional Notes:

How to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGu3yIf6s9Q&list=PLc9vKgwNtKxUXB8DAwWxBLYBb295RUtqC&index=2

List of Supported Depth Sensors: https://nuitrack.notion.site/87e45f2fb76c4456973f826dc1583ebc?v=c5bce550492145f4b4c7335f24f819fd

UE-forum: https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/update-real-time-full-body-tracking-for-ue5-nuitrack-plugin/1331349

KINECT KINECTV2 AZURE KINECT ORBBEC REAL-TIME KINECT2 MOTION CAPTURE REALSENSE NUITRACK BLUEPRINTS TRACKING

This is a plugin which can Encrypt, Decrypt and Hash most type of variables and objects with a lot of methods on Blueprints. This is used for protect your data by cheaters or hackers, or for easy transferring variables between programs.

  • Code Plugins

Adds new editor functionality to find, create and edit assets more easily

IMAGES

  1. Introduction

    body of a writing

  2. PPT

    body of a writing

  3. Body Of An Essay Example

    body of a writing

  4. Academic Writing

    body of a writing

  5. Writing Mini Lesson #17- Writing the Body Section of a Narrative Essay

    body of a writing

  6. How to Write a Main Body Paragraph

    body of a writing

VIDEO

  1. 15. Body Writing by Jaya and V. Karuppaiah

  2. An example of writing a body paragraph

  3. Fun facts about human body with English Calligraphy writing

  4. Body Language, Writing skills & Role of environment and language #ytshorts #shorts #youtubeshorts

  5. Was James Writing Specifically To The Body Of Christ?

  6. Writing Diseases and Infected body parts #selfwritingworld #ytshorts #viral #science

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write the Body of an Essay

    The body is the longest part of an essay. This is where you lead the reader through your ideas, elaborating arguments and evidence for your thesis. The body is always divided into paragraphs. You can work through the body in three main stages: Create an outline of what you want to say and in what order.

  2. Body Writing 101 (Ultimate Guide for Beginners)

    Body writing is the act of writing or drawing on someone's body with a pen, pencil, or another instrument. It can be used as a form of communication, to show affection, or for personal empowerment and gratification. Body writing is also a common fetish in BDSM. (This post may have afilliate links. Please see my full disclosure)

  3. Body Paragraphs: How to Write Perfect Ones

    A body paragraph is any paragraph in the middle of an essay, paper, or article that comes after the introduction but before the conclusion. Generally, body paragraphs support the work's thesis and shed new light on the main topic, whether through empirical data, logical deduction, deliberate persuasion, or anecdotal evidence.

  4. : r/BodyWriting

    Body Writing. Welcome to /r/BodyWriting A subreddit dedicated to decorating the human canvas with language. The goal of the Subreddit is for people to be able to enjoy the joys of body writing of all forms. This sub is for all genders with writing on their body. 110K Members.

  5. Body Paragraphs

    Body Paragraphs Rebuttal Sections Conclusions Purdue OWL General Writing Common Writing Assignments Argument Papers Body Paragraphs Body Paragraphs Body paragraphs: Moving from general to specific information Your paper should be organized in a manner that moves from general to specific information.

  6. How to Write a Strong Body Paragraph for an Essay

    Written by MasterClass Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 2 min read From magazines to academic essays, you can find body paragraphs across many forms of writing. Learn more about how to write engaging body paragraphs that support the central idea of your writing project.

  7. Anatomy of a Body Paragraph

    Anatomy of a Body Paragraph | HOME / WRITING RESOURCES / STRATEGIES FOR ESSAY WRITING / Anatomy of a Body Paragraph When you write strong, clear paragraphs, you are guiding your readers through your argument by showing them how your points fit together to support your thesis.

  8. How to write an essay: Body

    The essay body itself is organised into paragraphs, according to your plan. Remember that each paragraph focuses on one idea, or aspect of your topic, and should contain at least 4-5 sentences so you can deal with that idea properly. Each body paragraph has three sections. First is the topic sentence. This lets the reader know what the ...

  9. Body Paragraphs

    Writing Body Paragraphs. Follow these steps below to write good body paragraphs. Step 1: Develop a Topic Sentence. Step 2: Provide Evidence to Support your Topic Sentence and Overall Argument. Step 3: Add your Own Analysis and Interpretation. Step 4: Conclude. Step 5: Revise and Proofread. A P.I.E. Paragraph. For Example.

  10. Writing a Good Body of an Essay: Tips and Rules

    Writing body of an essay is difficult task. In many ways, it's the most relevant section because all major points of your paper should be introduced and dissected there. This is your chance to study the topic in as much depth as needed, presenting your arguments, defending them, and supporting them with academic sources.

  11. Master List of Physical Description for Writers

    For all the words about describing facial features, I'm focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there's a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions. large. small. narrow. sharp. squinty. round. wide-set.

  12. Simple Ways to Write a Body Paragraph: 13 Steps (with Pictures)

    Writing the Paragraph. 1. Build a transition from the previous paragraph. In most body paragraphs, the first sentence serves two roles. While most of it is dedicated to establishing the main idea, it also should provide a quick but logical transition from the previous paragraph.

  13. Writing the Body: Trauma, Illness, Sexuality, and Beyond

    By Literary Hub December 6, 2016 In September, Michele Filgate's quarterly Red Ink Series—focused on women writers, past and present—brought together Eileen Myles, Ruth Ozeki, Porochista Khakpour, Anna March, and Alexandra Kleeman for a wide-ranging discussion about writing the body, from health to gender, sexuality, and beyond.

  14. How to Write a Body Paragraph?

    Much like an essay, a body paragraph is made of a few components: Transitions: Words, expressions, or even whole sentences used at the beginning or end of a body paragraph in order to achieve a continuous glide between paragraphs. Topic sentence: The first sentence in a body paragraph that acts as the introduction of said paragraph.

  15. Writing the Body: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Maggie Nelson ...

    The body in writing is a vessel to feeling—to empathy. Reading Lidia Yuknavitch, Maggie Nelson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, among others, is to feel. At a recent lecture, Maggie Nelson said that a "ringing sense of mortality […] underscores everything we write.". The body, unlike the internet, is finite. It is deeply personal and universal—we ...

  16. MASTER LIST of Gestures and Body Language!

    he swayed on his feet. she dragged her feet. she pumped a fist. he thrust his fists in the air. she punched the air. *. A slightly expanded version of this list of body language and gestures appears in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More.

  17. Writing the Body in Literature and Culture

    Educational aims & objectives. To introduce students to the literary, historicaland cultural contexts of twentieth-century and twenty-first century women's writing. To deepen students' knowledge of different genres dealing withrepresentations of the body: theory, fiction (including the short story), autobiography, and the essay.

  18. How To Write About the Body in Creative Nonfiction

    How To Write About the Body in Creative Nonfiction published in Writing Tweet Do you remember the old advice you heard from writing teachers or craft books: make all five senses—taste, touch, sound, sight, and smell—part of the scene?

  19. What should I write between the pictures? : r/BodyWriting

    Welcome to /r/BodyWriting A subreddit dedicated to decorating the human canvas with language. The goal of the Subreddit is for people to be able to enjoy the joys of body writing of all forms. This sub is for all genders with writing on their body.

  20. Body Writing

    Welcome to /r/BodyWriting A subreddit dedicated to decorating the human canvas with language. The goal of the Subreddit is for people to be able to enjoy the joys of body writing of all forms. This sub is for all genders with writing on their body.

  21. WRITE NOW

    Write Now with Corporeal Writing — Corporeal Writing™ - Writing Workshops Introduced in 2018 by Lidia Yuknavitch, these generative creative incubators have been a very popular staple of the Corporeal Writing curriculum.

  22. Takeaways from Fani Willis' stunning testimony in Georgia

    The Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and 14 of his allies took a stunning turn Thursday when two top prosecutors testified under oath about their romantic relationship at a ...

  23. Body of Writing

    Body of Writing is a collection of poetry threads created since 2017. More work will be added to each thread as it is written and some editing may occur to material which is already published on the site. The threads sometimes interweave; landscape and climate themes appear extensively alongside reflections on human activity through time ...

  24. The 'holy grail' of longevity foods this doctor eats every day—it

    Longevity and regenerative medicine doctor Neil Paulvin shares the "holy grail" of longevity foods that he eats every day to boost his brain power and immune system.

  25. I dont know what to write : r/BodyWriting

    Body Writing. Welcome to /r/BodyWriting A subreddit dedicated to decorating the human canvas with language. The goal of the Subreddit is for people to be able to enjoy the joys of body writing of all forms. This sub is for all genders with writing on their body. 109K Members.

  26. Owners worry Cybertruck of the future rusts after rain

    Cybertruck owners writing in an online forum said they spotted orange splotches on the body of their vehicle days after exposing it to water. By Mack DeGeurin | Published Feb 14, 2024 3:00 PM EST ...

  27. Police find Darnell Taylor dead, Ohio boy subject of Amber Alert

    Maye told police that she left Darnell's body in a sewage drain in the 1000 block of Marsdale Avenue in Franklin County. Investigators located the body shortly after 1 a.m. Friday.

  28. Umut Fip Warrior

    2,208 likes, 468 comments - umut_fipwarrior on February 14, 2024: "I'm writing to you with a heavy heart about Cordelia, a precious kitten in a dire situation. Cord..." Umut Fip Warrior | Umut Animal Rescue|Animal Care Home🐈‍⬛🐾 on Instagram: "I'm writing to you with a heavy heart about Cordelia, a precious kitten in a dire situation.

  29. Nuitrack

    Nuitrack - real-time body tracking for Unreal Engine 5. It could be used without writing any code, simply connecting Nodes in Blueprints It's perfect for developing games, fitness apps and other interactive projects with body tracking. Get started with examples showing different Nuitrack capabilities: