How to describe the action in the novel? On action description ...

When I first started writing, I seriously accepted a friend's advice on writing. He emphasized that the behavior of the characters plays an important role in the development of the story. But in that calm scene, when the characters in the novel are talking and listening, I am in trouble. I mistakenly thought that some concise "action" words were enough here.

So my scene description is full of phrases such as "he nodded", "she shrugged", "he got up", "sat down" or "crossing his legs". I even let the characters in my novels watch, yawn, laugh and sigh. These are the "actions" I use in character dialogue. I mistake "meaningful action description" for writing a single "action". Due to the proliferation of these redundant words, my manuscript had to be invalidated.

Time and some seminars on novel writing helped me get rid of these problems. I see, boring sentences are no different from ordinary actions, and they are all enemies of novels.

I finally understand that when people's activities are associated with emotions, attitudes, postures or expressions, they are meaningful actions. This is a personalized action, which can create vivid pictures and make the dialogue full of vitality.

Let me give you an example: Officer Hawkins and Captain carruthers are two policemen. They are discussing a murder in the sheriff's office.

This scene lacks dramatic effect. These boring verbs: look, shrug, let go, stand, walk and leave, do not describe intention, attitude, posture or expression. Did not express the feelings of two people.

Take another look. When these boring verbs turn into vivid activities, the scene immediately becomes full of vitality.

Here are some colorless verbs: say, look, walk, follow, arrive, hear and turn around. The purpose of this conversation is to let us know that Bobby encouraged Johnny to enter a haunted house by stimulating him. But the dialogue doesn't involve gestures.

Now, let these actions convey attitude, posture and expression, and make the scene active.

Now this scene has a horrible tone, giving life to this small scene, and the central meaning is very clear.

In these two examples, the ego has not changed, but the description of the action has changed. It is these modified action descriptions that help readers better understand these scenes.

As a writing exercise, you can try to add meaningful action descriptions to the same two scenes without changing the dialogue. For example, you can try to show the sense of humor between Hawkins and carruthers, or the adventurous spirit between Billy and Johnny instead of fear. Notice how vivid the dialogue becomes when the reader can "hear" the tone of the characters.

In order to show the plot, my novel uses more actions than usual in the scene where the police appear. Although the use of vivid and meaningful actions can add color to the novel, if it is not used properly, it will play a role of interference.

For example, if you want a character to bring a specific set of information to your readers, such as pointing out what measures have been taken to solve some problems or what plans are being implemented, you should make sure that these information is not buried in a mess of actions. Watching too much, sighing and shrugging will interfere with the facts. In order to arouse emotions, these purposeful actions should be limited to the beginning or end of the conversation. If you want this mood to change with the development of the story, the most important thing is to let readers see the changed posture, feelings or attitudes with different actions.

Some stories are written only from an objective perspective, and the author hardly goes deep into the protagonist's ideological activities. In this case, it is necessary to make all movements have a clear meaning and let body movements express people's feelings and thoughts.

Sometimes we need more words to give an action practical content and dramatic effect, especially when writing short stories. So when your character makes an action, you need to know which action is critical to the scene. Remember, a sentence with actual content will make your writing more influential than a series of messy actions.

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