Quick & Dirty Research

The Body Electric

The Body Electric

Have you heard the term before? Maybe you associate it with Walt Whitman's poem, or remember the song from hearing Irene Cara and the cast sing it on the 1980's movie and TV series, Fame. Or maybe you relate it to what's happening inside many human bodies right now, in the form of a variety of medical devices that drive electrical impulses and run on batteries.

When writers consider the appearance of their characters, traits develop, like a mole on the left cheek, a thinning eyebrow, or maybe a woman who has straw-like hair. But underneath all the scaffolding of body and bone, is a complex electric circuitry that drives movement, vital signs, even instinct. Whitman's late 19th c. take on the phrase embodies the potential of life. Words like dynamism, action potential, even empowerment come to mind.

I've long forgotten most of the physiology of the nervous system that I learned from Dr. Elaine Marieb in nursing school. But I do remember that neurons communicate within our bodies and create pathways across synapses (or aisles) to instigate movement and even drive thoughts and fears. Neurons receive signals from the brain and travel down the spinal cord to direct everything within us, including our heartbeats. When was the last time your heart rate increased, not because of exercise, but because you were worried or scared? Author and cardiologist Sandeep Juahar, talks about the metaphorical heart and why the nervous system sparks the neurotransmitter we know as dopamine to make us warm all over when we're near someone we love.

And what happens when those "normal" neurological or electrical processes are interrupted? Think of how someone with Parkinson's Disease moves and how that affects the rest of their life. Not only must the person navigate ambulation, but they must deal with how the world views them. One of my characters, Arnold, in Kissed by a Midwife, suffers from an undiagnosed movement disorder. People regard him a certain way because of the way he appears, when a lack of dopamine affects his movements. Electricity is firing or misfiring everywhere around us.

For my manuscript on submission, Paige Cunningham's Unpredictable Life, [new working title for those of you who've read about the book before] Paige seeks a way to understand and harness all that life offers her in her late sixties and beyond. It is more than emotional, it's a physical need, a yearning to be fulfilled. After her severe concussion, her thinking is irrational at times, and she makes some questionable choices, leaving her life difficult to navigate. When she suffers the consequences of her actions, she has to find a way to heal her heart and her brain. Her body electric needs attention.

When I think back to my difficult physiology class, with its award-winning textbook written by the professor, my own neurons end up in a crossfire. Dr. Marieb was the hardest professor I've ever had and I'm not alone in that viewpoint. She demanded excellence, not always in a kind way. So smart, she actually became a registered nurse (on top of her PhD and other degrees) in order to teach us! Her intimate understanding of the mechanics of the body was astounding.

I went back to college for writing, more than thirty years after I received my nursing degree, and found myself sitting in The Marieb Lounge, a room replete with tea service that she had endowed for nontraditional learners. I was a mini-celebrity, having known the deceased professor so well. You could call it a full circle moment.

Now I write characters whose bodies may malfunction, have weird abnormalities, or whose neurons may cause them to react in a certain way. They feel a tingle when they touch their next true love, and experience a zap of cold hatred for their foes. Sometimes, natural electricity in the form of thunder and lightning surround them and set a mood. Human nature and why certain reactions are expected, even common, in particular situations, are based on how our electric impulses drive chemical reactions and direct our behavior. In many instances, we just can't help ourselves.

I had no idea, way back in my late 20th century physiology class, how much the body electric would inform my choices on the page too.