VERBS

USE STRONG VERBS in your description/action paragraphs!

Avoid the forms of "be" (is, are), avoid gerund form verbs (ending in -ing), avoid the dreaded "goes" and "comes."

Keep it second person present tense and use STRONG, UNIQUE VERBS THAT CAPTURE TONE, EMOTION, AND CHARACTER.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of this in description...

Jack goes to the sidewalk to his car, goes inside the car.

Jack is inside the car, behind the wheel, Shelly is coming out of the house.

...and I think: yuck.

You must remember this is happening NOW -- this movie is playing on the movie screen in our heads right now and you're describing it to the reader.  But it must be clear, and interesting.  "Nick is also in the room" is frustrating to the reader; where is he in the room?  What does his body language tell us?  What's he doing?  What's the blocking of the actors in this room?  I should be able to SEE it.

Every line should be crucial to our understanding of the scene.  There should be no lines that one could characterize as "only there to give some exposition." 

Remember, you are SHOWING us WHAT WE SEE and HOW TO FEEL -- how do I know the tone of the scene by Jack "going" to the car or the refrigerator?  But if Jack "charges" his BMW, or "shuffle-steps gracefully" along the catwalk...that gives some sense of emotion and style, right? 

What if he "grits his teeth" the whole time, or he's "smiling a Cheshire cat grin" while performing these actions?  Even better, you're revealing character and tone.   

Every word counts, even a little verb in one little description sentence.  So take some time to come up with that word, make that verb unique, CRAFT every word in the sentence. 

This all comes down to one of the most basic lessons in screenwriting...

NEVER WASTE WORDS!!

-Daniel Calvisi
www.actfourscreenplays.com
copyright (c) Daniel Calvisi 2005-2006

-back to TIPS INDEX