115 Words for “walks”

Movies are primarily a visual medium. Therefore as screenwriters, we need to think visually… and write visually. Take the verb “walks”:

He walks into the room.

She walks away from him.

How about these instead: amble, shuffle, staggers, paces, speeds, lurches, leaps, skips, bounds, sprints, stumbles. On and on and on, there are so many better, more active and visual verbs than “walks.”

GITS reader Alan Donahue was kind enough to put together this PDF: 115 Words for “walks”. You can download it here.

On your next script, take the advice of screenwriter Larry Ferguson (The Hunt for Red October):

“There was a girl who came to me with her first screenplay. It was a good first shot. I gave her some advice. I told her, ‘I want you to go home and take a yellow Marks-A-Lot and highlight every verb in this 120-page screenplay, and then I want you to read them out loud and ask yourself, Can I find a stronger verb.’ Characters should never enter. They should storm in, they should skulk in, they should tremble in. These are the only chances you have to create visual pictures in people’s brains.”

Thanks, Alan, for reminding us the English language is rich with vivid verbs.

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