Book Three: Action Verbs
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–– Chapter 2: Writing as Wrestling Lions ––
By Bryan Thors Noonan
There is a word aching to take your imagination out to show it a good time.
Great writers caress this word at every opportunity, knowing it’ll tickle readers’ delights and fancies.
Whether winking or sighing, this word has the power to slip subtle suggestion as it gestures readers to
lean closer. It has a voice that hums sweet music while it hypnotizes the mind. It’s the smoothest and most
seductive word ever scribed because it flirts with promises of boundless adventure.
Who is this Don Juan of diction? Where can you encounter this Marilyn Monroe of mellifluous?
Scour every sentence and find it trembling while it beckons your eyes and mind: the action verb.
The best writers see the action verb as the pulse, the lifeblood, and the spirit of great writing. How can a
word wield so much power? In short, the action verb determines whether a sentence feels alive or dead.
The writer might liken its power to another comparison: do you want your writing to clap and thunder like
a gladiator wrestling lions, or wheeze like a 100-year-old man straining for his last breath on life support?
The action verb will decide this for you.
Since action verbs are the most important element to great writing, focusing on them from this day forward
will instantly make your writing twinkle and shimmer. If a writing rule is so simple and easy to define, it’s
time you centered your creative energy on this power source.
First of all, how can you find the action verb? Believe it or not, most sentences only need two words: a
subject and a verb. The verb is the action of the sentence, or what the subject is doing. Therefore, the
following is a complete sentence: “She runs.”
To practice, underline each of the action verbs in this sentence:
The boy stuttered as he begged his crush to be his date at the dance. The girl smirked at the boy, and then
wagged a finger in his face, as she said, “Not in a million years.”
So what are the action verbs? If you struggled finding them, here’s a trick: take out the word you think
might be an action verb and ask if you can physically do that word. In other words, can you
____________? Let’s look at the first sentence. Can you “The”? Nope, so it’s not an action verb. Can you
“boy”? No again, so not an action verb. Can you “stutter”? Yes, you can, so “stutter” is an action verb.
Next half of the sentence: Can you “as”? No, so not an action verb. Can you “he”? Again no, so not an
action verb. Can you “beg”? Yes, so it’s an action verb. Quickly go back through and identify the action
verbs using this technique if you struggled the first time around.
Now we need to break down the effectiveness of each. Some action verbs (stuttered, begged, smirked,
wagged) engage the reader’s imagination and show the “boy” and “girl” subjects well. Many readers will
see “stuttered” and visualize a boy with little confidence. “Begged” suggests the boy is desperate. The
verb “smirked” might make the reader imagine a mean girl who thinks she’s better than the boy. If this is
the effect the action verb is having on the reader, the writer is winning.
Key Point: The action verb always makes readers imagine, getting them involved in the moment by poking
awake their memories, and this keeps them leaning in for more (knockout punch).
There is a basic action verb in the second sentence above: said. This action verb momentarily puts the
imagination to sleep (life support) because it doesn’t allow the reader to fully experience the scene. If you
had substituted “said” with “squawked” or “squealed,” it would have brought out the spirit of how she
said these words.
Understand that point and you’ll realize the power of action verbs.
Here’s what great writers remember (please tattoo this tip in your mind, as it is the most important in this
book): Most sentences must at minimum have a subject and a verb, and though one cannot change the
subject, great writers always search for strong verbs that maximize the subject’s personality.
In other words, if asked to write an essay about “unfair teachers,” writers are stuck with that subject. They
can’t change the subject to “arrogant zookeepers.” Though stuck with specific subjects, great writers
recognize they have the power to alter the choice of action verbs to bring life to “unfair teachers,” since
verbs should always bolster the subject’s personality. Remember that rule and your writing will become
sharper and more alive.
Here’s an easy exercise to carry this point further. Think about the earlier sentence: “She runs.” Is “runs” a
strong verb? Not at all. It’s basic, has no personality. Across planet earth, billions of girls (subjects) can run
(verb), so “run” offers little to the reader’s imagination.
Now watch what happens to the personality of the subject “she” when changing the verb “runs” to
“skedaddles” to rewrite the sentence, “She skedaddles.” Suddenly the girl (subject) is fleeing a situation
she wants to avoid, maybe because she did something wrong or wants to escape confrontation. The
reader’s mind will be more engaged by “skedaddles” than “runs” because “skedaddles” pokes the reader’s
imagination with a purposeful description of how the subject is moving. We don’t know who “she” is, but
the verb “skedaddles” gives the reader a hint at her personality, or at least, what situation she’s in. One
simple action verb breeds life and gives personality to the subject. This is how verbs wield power.
From this day forward, seek out the action verbs while reading, and always try to connect them to the
personality of your subjects while writing. When we are enthralled by a passage or book, or feel most
alive while writing, it is often because the action verbs are popping and sizzling on the page.
Soon your readers will cheer for your writing as a fierce gladiator entertaining their imaginations, unless
you want them to pull the plug and stop reading, since your words are barely breathing anyway.
Book Three: Action Verbs
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–– Chapter 1: Writing as Wanted: Dead or Alive ––
By Bryan Thors Noonan
The first ray of light flickers from that corner of the imagination where inspiration glows. As you shine
this latest-greatest idea from mind to page, you feel giddy and free.
You finish writing the sentence, beaming and ready to read it again to bask in its clever wisdom. That’s
when disappointment settles in. A moment ago, you considered this first thought to be a spiraling of
kaleidoscope colors with a dash of “that’s deep, man” logic. Now the words are staring back at you, naked
and shivering on the page.
Giddy turns into gloom as you realize you exposed another literary vein that needs to be pricked with a
lethal injection. Lord have mercy, you unleashed another cliché.
Sorry to break this news to you, but chances are your first thought is and may always be a cliché. Don’t
take it personal. Your cousin’s first thought is probably a cliché too. In fact, your best friend’s first thought
is probably a cliché. Your girlfriend’s first thought is probably a cliché. Your teacher’s first thought is
probably a cliché.
Even your dog’s first thought is a cliché. Didn’t you see his eyes popping out of his skull last time you
took the top off the cookie jar? His mind was not analyzing the situation: “Oh my, look at the curvature
around that delicious-looking morsel! I cannot wait to feel it crunch inside my mouth!”
Unless doggo has the power to transform into a British lord sipping tea, his mind slobbers,
“COOOOOKIE! YUM! YUM! YUM!”
So I’m going to beat this dead horse one final time, hoping my point reaches you clear as crystal: your
first thought is more than likely cliché.
That’s okay for the time being. In the same way it’s okay to follow fashion clichés just to be safe; or why
it’s acceptable to turn into the cliché “sports fan” when the local team is in the playoffs.
If you can’t beat them, join them, right?
However, allowing verbal clichés to burst out of your mind and onto your written page eventually adds up
to this badge of shame: you’re proving to yourself and everyone around you that you are an incorrigible
bore.
That you don’t care. That you won't bother to try. That you aren’t engaged enough to nudge your mind to
fire a single synapse more than necessary to grumble out your latest version of “Whatever.”
It’s hard work, being an original. Stay cliché if you want a life of blah for yourself.
So what is a cliché, some of you are asking? Probably need to know that, assuming you are one who
believes knowledge is power. A cliché is a word or expression that has been used so many times, it makes
the reader or listener throw up a little in his or her mind. This acid reflux is actually a regurgitation of an
idea that has been written or spoken the same way thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions
of times. I purposefully wrote a handful in the opening of this chapter, and you’ll spot them when you
realize you’ve read or heard them once upon a time.
In essence, the cliché is the epitome of unoriginal writing. Writers are urged to avoid them like the plague,
if they hope to save the day.
Assuming you'll accept this mission, remember this: Clark Kent was the cliché, Superman the original.
Thankfully, there is a phone booth that will transform your writing from blasé bloke to stimulating
superhero: the action verb.
The action verb is the word that makes the vixen purr, the muscleman snarl, the politician blabber, and
poor grandma fuss.
The action verb is the word that determines how the reader captures your writing, dead or alive.
Write What You Know taught us how to draw on knowledge and personal experience to prove expertise.
That’s the hard part. As we step into Book Three: Action Verbs, it’s important to understand how the parts
of speech shine up those great pearls of wisdom and make your ideas sing in the reader’s mind. Those
pesky parts of speech have the power to transform your words into hipster priests skating the half pipe
while reciting the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody with their collars popped.
Since the action verb is the single most important element to great writing, this is the place we’ll start
practicing. That is, if you don’t want to sound like every other writer in the world (i.e. cliché).
Until you train your mind to realize its first thought is a cliché, it will always be so. Recognize that fact,
then study the chapters in this book to learn how to dig deeper each time you are thinking. Eventually, your
first thought will begin snapping awake from the dance party bumping in your mind, the place where
great thinkers groove ideas onto the page.
Along the way you'll discover this cliché truth: when action speaks louder than words, the verb is holding
the megaphone.