Dynamic verbs
Recently I’ve been reading about dynamic verbs. It’s all very exhilarating. Strike that; a better way to say that with a dynamic verb, it feeds the brain good adrenaline. (You know you’re a writing nerd when you use dynamic verb and adrenaline in the same sentence... For the blog reader that isn’t turned on by words, this might be a boring post.)
Next door to the dynamic verb, lives its ugly cousin, the stative verb. While that last sentence did use a dynamic verb, it employed the un-recommend passive voice. Gross. In active voice, the sentence could be re-written: Its ugly cousin, the stative verb, lives next door to the high-achieving, well-received dynamic verb.
Essentially, a stative verb expresses a state of being or a perception. Most commonly, they are variants of the verb to be (e.g., is, was, will be). Some examples:
Goldilocks was hungry.
She doubted anyone was home.
It looked empty.
Conversely, a dynamic verb describes an action or process. Some examples:
The three bears returned to their house.
Apparently someone had broken in and ransacked the pantry.
Papa Bear found the intruder and mauled her to death.
In good writing, dynamic verbs take the crown. They present vivid, action-packed scenes; whereas, the stative verb spews out dry and decrepit prose. Maybe not likely, but If I ever directed a movie, stative verb isn’t getting an audition. Scram. Come back when you’ve got something substantive to offer. Get off my set!
Instead of saying: The knight was very brave; why not say: The knight killed 70 dragons. Or instead of saying: The remaining dragons were fearful for their lives; why not say: In the middle of the night, the remaining dragons gathered to discuss how they would deal with the threat. As a final example, instead of saying: The Battle to Reclaim Dragon Hill was remembered for many generations; how about: The Battle to Reclaim Dragon Hill echoed throughout dragon lore.
Hopefully by now you’re jazzed about dynamic verbs. Better put, hopefully you’d sprint toward a dynamic verb rather than a statvie one. As a final point of support, let me display dynamic verbs used well. (Yeah that’s right, I can use anecdotal evidence to good effect.) The below excerpt comes from Laura Hillenbrand, the pen behind Seabiscuit and Unbroken.
{He was a marked boy. Bullies, drawn by his oddity and hoping to goad him into uttering Italian curses, pelted him with rocks, taunted him, punched him, and kicked him. He tried buying their mercy with his lunch, but they pummeled him anyway, leaving him bloody. He could have ended the beatings by running away or succumbing to tears, but he refused to do either. “You could beat him to death,” said Sylvia, “and he wouldn’t say ‘ouch’ or cry.” He just put his hand in front of his face and took it.} Unbroken, pg.9
Isn’t that a much more visually pleasing way of saying: he was bullied.
