Writing Movement

Posted by parkejladd on Jun 15, 2010 in Featured {Article}, Prague, Slider | 2 comments

Chances are, you can’t remember the first beautiful stranger that ever caught your eye, and you probably can’t remember the one that parted seas of people during rush hour traffic yesterday evening, either. The outwardly attractive stranger is like a well placed adjective—they grab your attention and flutter your mind, but only for a moment. Used improperly or in overabundance, descriptive words get skimmed over, the reader never catching your intended impact as they scan the page for words of relevancy and importance. The problem with adjectives is that they have short life spans. Adjectives are like the fashion industry and pop musicians. They have to get noisier each day just to hold us. An adjective-based performer’s only real intention is to catch our eye for a time then walk away with fat wads of cash oozing out of their pockets.

The opposite of adjective-based writing is verb-based. The difference between the two is that verb-based writing implies and instigates action. Verbs speak of movement, and movement is the aromatic allure that holds the reader’s nose to the ink. While adjectives add fluff and pomp to our stories, movement causes the reader to sit up and pay attention. Movement is what our hearts desire and revere. We want to know exactly how the character caught hold of a passion in his own soul and thus instigated change, action and movement in those around him. Our eyes and minds are naturally drawn to verbs. That adjective-based, beauty blip that caught your eye from across the street is forgettable indeed in comparison to the verb-based stranger who walks up, looks you in the eye, kisses your cheek, and begins a hearty conversation full of vigor and confidence with you, a complete stranger. Adjectives are used to clothe us and take us on beach vacations. Verbs are meant to rile us up and push us on our journey.

We have a choice. We can either live adjective-based or verb-based lives. We will be defined as one or the other. We will either spend our days attempting to catch the eyes and attention of others for momentary gain and satisfaction, or we will spend our days building movements with those who care about the story we attempt to write and share. The choice is ours.