Action Lines: Clarity, Economy, Energy
Action writing should make the movie easy to see and the page hard to put down.
High agreementA durable convention or broadly shared professional principle.
The principle
Good description selects. It names the essential visual fact, gives action an order, and uses sentence rhythm to shape attention. Economy is not telegram prose. A short paragraph can still be vague; a longer one can be gripping when every detail changes how we understand the moment.
Put it to work
- Start sentences with the subject performing the important action.
- Break paragraphs when focus, action, or time changes.
- Replace generic modifiers with specific nouns and verbs.
Common mistakes
- Writing walls of undifferentiated text.
- Narrating every glance and step.
- Chasing white space until geography disappears.
Sources & further reading
Pitcheroo’s guidance is original synthesis. These are the main sources used for this guide.