Avoiding Using ING

[Joe270]

Hmmm. I think I'm about to be severly ridiculed. Fire away. (Yes, I like frags.)

I don't completely understand the not using -ing thing. I have looked for threads on this and found none.

I have four -ings on my friggin' first page.

1.) sound effect: LABORED BREATHING

2.) cliche: "Covering your back"

3.) descriptive: the driving wind and snow

4.) passage of time: growing to ten years of age

I understand and use active voice, so I suppose this is keeping in that vien.

Do I need to search and change all the -ings here or what? Is this an industry no-no that will kick out my screenplay at page one?

[zahra]

No, love, I'm pretty sure the rule is just against stuff like 'Jane is entering', rather than 'Jane enters', not things like 'driving rain' and 'laboured breathing'. It's the action, you see.

So your first page is safe.

[Joe270]

I'm already a third of the way through the script. I found three places that really needed changing. Not too bad for thirty-two pages.

One paragraph had three, though. That one really needed a touch of action.

[Boo_Radley]

You're always hearing about how "ing" verbs are generally frowned upon, but I don't remember anyone saying they're flat-out unacceptable. I use them from time to time myself in instances where "active voice" chops up the rhythm I'm going for in a particular line.

Besides, you can read any number of produced screenplays which are plain filthy with 'em.

[Joe270]

Frankly, I'm stunned about how many -ings pop up in my script with a search. Of course, I'm screwed with a main character named Jennings. That's the last time that will happen. It is rather amazing how often we use ING. It's everywhere.

I can understand why readers tire of seeing them. Four are in this post alone.

[Joe Calabrese]

it's all about active versus passive-- drawing the reader in versus being an observer.

it's also about saving space and creating white space.

Jane runs is shorter than Jane is running by 50 percent. 5 characters = one word. Imagine taking one word out a page. That's a page over the course of a script-- a page that could go towards a really kick ass opening or a riveting scene or to give a dialog scene a little more room.

I wouldn't say "NEVER USE ING's!
I would say "Keep your voice active to engage the reader, create white space and your scripts will read better than those who don't.

To quote (you tell me and in what movie and you get a prize) one of my favorite films "Okay. It's not a rule, more of a guideline."

[scripter1]

Do I win? Do I win?


Joe, um, the other one, the OP.
In your examples the ing is fine, and a natural part of the spelling.

The issue with ings in other instances is because the writer is writing in the wrong tense, or the wrong time frame for film.

Movies happen in the exact moment. Even with a flashback we watch the events in real time, when they happen. So a character can't really perform....is running. It just happens .... runs.

You should actually try to take out the weak ings that soften up your writing. BUT only seek out and destroy the ones that create a widow.
One word taking up a single
line.

You can reclaim several pages by removing these.

[Rob B]

Joe, I agree with what everyone has said. As long as you're not combining active/passive voice, which could cause grief, I think the point about how it sounds should be your "guiding light." I'd apply the simplest test of all and read your sentence out loud and make a determination. Sometimes, regardless of what the texts say about not criss-crossing "ed's and "ing's," an "ing" is not only okay, but necessary to add rhythm (as someone pointed out). My reason for adding to the posts, however, was to mention gerunds and not have these babies thrown out with the bath water. If you use them, I'd try to keep your gerunds (or gerund phrases), whenever possible That's one "ing" that makes the "ed" endings in a sentence crisper, in many cases, and shouldn't be included in the culling when it's easy to get caught up in trying to modify for the sake of convention.

[Joe270]

I only found the three places so far, but, like I said, the pages are loaded with -ing. Nearly all of them are rediculous to try to correct, like cieling, skiing, etc.

Spotting the -ing help me find three places so far which needed a tweak.

I just never noticed how common -ing endings (there we go again) are in writing. (And again) I think it's probably good to avoid the unneccessary ones.

[dpaterso]

Not something I rate as majorly important, tho' overuse, as with anything, can spoil the feel of the writing, make action verbs seem weaker. The cumulative effect can be off-putting. Just don't go all obsessive and let it slow you down. Write first, correct later. :)

-Derek