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Does a body need to be dead?

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Mamitt

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Hope this is the right place for this question.

I'm writing a novel that starts with bodies (not exactly human, but meaning: "the entire structure of a human organism") floating down the river. Some dead, some hurt.

Is the word "body" too much associated with "dead body" to be used in this way?

English is not my first language and to me "body" can mean all kinds of things - at least a few.

Is there another word that can be used?

Thanks in advance!
 

alleycat

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I think bodies would work. You could always say just what you've said here. For example:

The bodies of the Gulupieans floated down the river like so many logs. Some were dead and some were still alive. The ones who were still alive were horribly injured and called out for help as they floated helplessly downstream.
 

Undercover

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I think bodies would work. You could always say just what you've said here. For example:

The bodies of the Gulupieans floated down the river like so many logs. Some were dead and some were still alive. The ones who were still alive were horribly injured and called out for help as they floated helplessly downstream.

I'm going to second this. Even though they might not be human, you can still use the word body. I think if you did use something else, it may be confusing to the reader depending on what word you choose.
 

Mamitt

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Thank you both for your replies!

It's just that I posted the beginning of my novel in one of the "3 first sentences"-threads and everybody who commented said that they got thrown by the fact that the second "body" wasn't dead.
 

Marlys

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Thank you both for your replies!

It's just that I posted the beginning of my novel in one of the "3 first sentences"-threads and everybody who commented said that they got thrown by the fact that the second "body" wasn't dead.

I looked at that thread, and I think it's the way you have the information presented. One (dead) body floats by. When the second body shows up, there's an expectation that it will be dead, too. If you'd set it up as suggested in this thread, that multiple bodies were in the river, some alive and some dead, I don't think readers would have the same problem.
 

ishtar'sgate

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I looked at that thread, and I think it's the way you have the information presented. One (dead) body floats by. When the second body shows up, there's an expectation that it will be dead, too. If you'd set it up as suggested in this thread, that multiple bodies were in the river, some alive and some dead, I don't think readers would have the same problem.

I looked at it too and thought the same thing. alleycat's example lets us know at once that some are dead and some are alive so a version of that suggestion would keep the reader from stumbling over your opening.
 

Mamitt

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I looked at that thread, and I think it's the way you have the information presented. One (dead) body floats by. When the second body shows up, there's an expectation that it will be dead, too. If you'd set it up as suggested in this thread, that multiple bodies were in the river, some alive and some dead, I don't think readers would have the same problem.

Thank you all for replying!

I thought that saying that the first body had no life left in it would make it probable that others might have life in them...

I don't want there to be too much death, and it will become clear later that I am dealing with two peaceful groups of people who are not acustomed to violent death at all.

Maybe I'll just start somewhere else after all. I am learning that I have a lot to learn!
 

Jamesaritchie

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If you say bodies, "dead" is going to jump into every head automatically. That's just how it is. When's the last time you heard someone report a live body floating down the river?

Here, we have only humans. Anywhere else, it's best to specify what's floating down the river, rather than just bodies. Or just say the dead and the injured floated down the river, and avoid theword "bodies" completely.
 

heza

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The question has already been answered, so I'm more or less just posting to post. But it happens that I actually read a passage this weekend that did this, calling a not dead person a "body," and I had to reread it a couple of times because when the guy turned out not to be dead in the following paragraph, it threw me.

If I remember correctly, there were no cues. It was just, "I rolled his body over..." And then a few lines down, something like, "He groaned and sat up." What threw me was that there wasn't anything to set up that he might not be dead; "body" was used matter-of-factly. And then there was no surprise implied when he sat up. So it felt like the MC knew he wasn't dead, but I was being misled by the wording.

I don't have the book with me at the moment, but I'll see if I can find the passage again tonight. (I'll try... the body count in the book is pretty high.)

As point of interest, we once had a thread here about whether, when indicating a corpse, it's best to say "body" or, specifically, "dead body." That might give you some more insight.
 
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TheWordsmith

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Yes, Mamitt, the word "bodies" is incredibly associated with 'dead'. But, as soon as you establish that some of the bodies are not dead but only injured, wounded, traumatized in some way so that they might appear dead to an innocent eye, your reader will accept that the bodies are of varying degrees of life. You just have to... (dare I say it?) ...TELL them.
 

TheWordsmith

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If you say bodies, "dead" is going to jump into every head automatically. That's just how it is. When's the last time you heard someone report a live body floating down the river?

Here, we have only humans. Anywhere else, it's best to specify what's floating down the river, rather than just bodies. Or just say the dead and the injured floated down the river, and avoid the word "bodies" completely.

This is an excellent observation and a quite reasonable suggestion.
 

PandaMan

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Bodies floating down a river most definitely implies they're dead.

If they're alive, give them a name or identify them in some way (e.g., the tourists, the fisherman, etc.). If it's a mixture of dead and alive, then just say so like Jamesaritchie suggests.
 

blacbird

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If you say bodies, "dead" is going to jump into every head automatically. That's just how it is.

This, exactly. 99+% of readers will immediately associate "body" with "corpse", in the context described. If you were writing about athletes, or something medical, the association of the word "body" with death wouldn't happen, but context matters.

Now, if you have a bunch of recognizable organisms floating down a river, your POV becomes important. Observers along the bank might assume they are all dead, but if some are still alive, how would they know, other than pulling them out and discovering some still lived?

caw
 
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Once!

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Taking purely in the abstract, if I read about bodies floating in a river I would assume they were dead bodies. We generally talk about live people as people. Yes, people have bodies, but we generally don't call them bodies until they dead.

There could be an exception. If you are describing the scene from someone's point of view, say in first person or close third, you might use the term "bodies" if they don't yet know whether any are alive. Or if they thought that they were all dead. But it might be helpful to indicate through thoughts that this character didn't know whether they were alive or not.
 

MakanJuu

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"Body/ Bodies" is fine. The words generally associated exclusively with a dead body is corpse, cadaver and dead body.
 

talktidy

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Hi,

By now you have probably made up your mind, but include me in the body equals synonymous with corpse camp.
 

WhitePawn

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My perspective is such that body just means human body, dead or alive, but I've been in health care for twenty years.

The perspective will vary by reader.

You could manipulate the 'always dead' perception though. Describe bodies on the river. Then mention that some of those bodies moved...utterly outside of what should've been happening through the natural tug and flow of the water. Go from there. Make the observer/reader realize not all the bodies are dead.

Works for both starting perceptions.
 

Twick

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Try something like "Bodies floated down the river. Some still made feeble movements."
 

Susan Coffin

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Hope this is the right place for this question.

I'm writing a novel that starts with bodies (not exactly human, but meaning: "the entire structure of a human organism") floating down the river. Some dead, some hurt.

Is the word "body" too much associated with "dead body" to be used in this way?

English is not my first language and to me "body" can mean all kinds of things - at least a few.

Is there another word that can be used?

Thanks in advance!

If bodies are floating down the river, they are generally dead. In murder mysteries, the body is the dead person.

Why not just say there were people floating down the river, some dead, some alive?
 
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