Why This is Good

Yesterday I talked about the vitality of writing for clarity. Today I’d like to give some examples of how to write clearly and show what works and what doesn’t.

There are some simple rules you can follow to ensure you writing is clear and precise:

-Use short, declarative sentences

-Use sentence fragments.

-Use basic sentence structure and avoid run-on sentences.

-Use the active voice, and avoid –ing ending verbs.

-Always orient the reader when you get into a new scene. In addition to describing what each location looks like, especially the first time we visit, briefly describe who is there and what they are doing. If you neglect to do this, and a character starts speaking that wasn’t mentioned in the action description, it seems to the reader that they came out of nowhere. Include entrances and exits-if a character enters the scene or leaves, mention it so the reader is always aware of what the picture in their mind should look like.

-Use names whenever possible, don’t use pronouns, especially when there are two or more people of the same gender. Make sure it is always clear who is doing what action.

For example:

Bob and Tom walk into a bar and sit down. He points at the top shelf whiskey. He pours the whiskey and takes a shot. He looks at him and waits.

There is no way to know which he and him we are talking about. Bob, Tom, and the bartender are all male. We can infer that the he that pours the whiskey is the bartender, but which he asked for it? Which he drinks it? Rewriting for clarity to avoid vague pronouns would look like this:

Bob and Tom walk into a bar and sit down. Bob points at the top shelf whiskey. The bartender pours the whiskey and Bob takes a shot. Tom looks at Bob and waits.

The second paragraph clearly indicates who is performing each action, since it’s all men, we can’t rely on pronouns. In your quest for brevity, never sacrifice clarity and ease of readability.

Reading more screenplays should help illustrate what is good, clear screenwriting and what isn’t. The more good, produced screenplays you read, the more examples you will see of how screenwriters accomplish the task of being brief, concise, visual, dynamic and clear all at once.

As a creative form of expression, and compared to other types of writing, screenwriting can seem limiting. As with poetry, writers are forced to choose only the most vivid, precise and appropriate words to describe things simply, yet clearly. A novelist can elaborate for as long as he or she desires on something as mundane as the color of a character’s hair or the way the cars are moving down the street. A screenwriter is forced to omit minor, unimportant details, and find the right way to clearly and concisely evoke a strong, visual image while using as few words as possible, and, as a further constraint, to do so using simple, easy to read language.

Considering how difficult this is, and the abundance of advice out there on how to screenwrite well, the admonitions to use the most visual, vivid language and imagery, it’s no wonder so many screenwriters get confused, and so many screenplays end up muddled and overwrought.

It’s important to remember that above all the other pieces of advice you’ll hear about screenwriting style, clarity is the most important. A screenplay will be better received and reviewed if it is clear, simple and easy to understand than if it contains unique and engaging sentence structure and creative language. If you are able to be vivid, unique and visual while maintaining clarity, great. If not, sacrifice vivid and unique for clarity. Remember that your screenplay is not a work of art in and of itself the way a book is. Your screenplay is simply the blueprint that will guide the actors, the director, the editor and the team of hundreds who will work to bring the story you wrote to life on screen. It’s not meant to be read, so it does not need to be phenomenally written in brilliantly creative prose. What it needs to be is a clear, efficient guide that tells the story in a way that anyone reading the script can understand. A young teen or smart fifth grader should be able to easily grasp what is going on. Anything more elevated and you’re not being clear and simple. If your story is good, it will stand out and get noticed, whether your language is beautiful and poetic or not. If your story is lacking, then the most amazing, gorgeous prose and perfect use of the English language won’t help save your screenplay from the reject pile.

As noted in the last post, have as many people as possible-of all educational levels and ages-read your script. Ask them if they understood what you were saying and if the action description is clear. If it is not, rewrite those sections that gave people trouble to make them clear and precise. Omit the big showy vocabulary words that impressed your creative writing teacher and choose simple, common words that everyone clearly understands and knows how to pronounce. Screenwriting is the place to showcase your storytelling and dialogue writing skills, not your expansive vocabulary. Save the imagery and flowery prose for your novel. In screenwriting, clarity reigns and clarity is the style element you should strive for above all others.