NARRATIVE STYLE
SCREENPLAYS ARE VISUAL BY DEFINITION.
Screenplays are not the haven for impressive prose or deep inner thoughts. You’re basically restricted
to telling your story by what the audience will see and by what they will hear. So, your style of writing
and the words you choose need to create pictures and sounds in the mind of the reader.
You should strive to write your narrative in an active voice and in as much of a shorthand as
possible. So instead of writing, “She is SCREAMING at the top of her lungs,” it would be more
effective to write, “She SCREAMS at the top of her lungs.” While both examples are written in
the active voice, avoiding the use of words that end with “ing” speeds up the read. Hand in glove
with this style is to avoid using words and phrases that give a tentative feeling to the narrative.
So, instead of writing, “She seems somewhat doubtful as to what to do next,” it would be better
to write, “A ‘now what?’ stare replaces her vacant gaze.”
You should also avoid abstract words and phrases while choosing those that produce rich imagery
in the mind of the reader. As I mentioned earlier, this is the way to give your work both tone and
atmosphere. There are other approaches that you can use to help tell your story as well. Among
these are the use of voice-over, flashbacks, montages, and intercutting.
