What is it about verbs that make us all squirm?
Every author I know (including myself) squirms when it comes to verbs, especially the “to be” verbs. You know, the “is” “was” “were” “be.” They are easy words to slip in and use. Little confusion, no superlatives, no using words obviously found in a thesaurus, simple, makes the point. “Said” ranks up there as well.
Even the best authors use “to be” verbs. And it takes a really good line editor or proofreader to catch 10 such verbs used consecutively. Most of us let them zoom in our eyes, flash past our brain and keep on moving. After all we don’t usually read with “to be” verbs in mind.
So if we aren’t really looking for them, and they are simple and easily understood, why do content/line editors fight so hard to get the author to, at the very least, minimize the usage?
Because “to be” verbs are tell, not show. And anyone who has written a book, or pedaled a book to a publishing company, has heard those words repeatedly, “please show me, don’t tell me.”
For example, “she went to the store” is a perfectly acceptable sentence. It gives information, let’s you know the character is a she and tells you where she went. Right, get it, “tells” you.
If you wrote, she dashed off to the store. What would that imply? In a hurry? ADHDA individual? It shows you something. In fiction writing, show is more important than tell.
In nonfiction writing, tell is more important. If I said, “Trayvon Martin was at the store.” That would be a fact-based comment. If I said, “Martin dashed to the store,” you would wonder what that meant. Was he running from or to something? Was his mind elsewhere, say on the phone? A police report full of verbs would be a great tool in the hands of any defense lawyer.
Show verbs help clue the reader into what the character at hand is doing. Save your tell verbs for when you are actually informing a reader of an event.
So if you are paying attention, how many “to be” verbs did I use here? And did I use them properly and why?
Editor Terri Wagner’s latest project, Mr. Gunn and Dr. Bohemia, a Steampunk adventure by Pete Ford, will be released in November, 2013.