: Re: How do I write less like a screenplay? I've come to notice I have a very specific manner of writing. Specifically, I've noticed that while I'm writing a book, I tend to pace and set up things
It's a perception and a vocabulary problem: it appears flat because you are describing what the characters are doing but there's no emotions or sensation involved. Among the things that I humbly suggest to correct it:
Enlarge your vocabulary to describe your character's actions ("dart" instead of "run", or "he flopped on the chair" instead of "he sat down")
Describes actions that tell something about who your characters are, put aside the everyday tasks that you characters do, if you can.
Make the characters react to their environment and stimulus: if a guy is walking in the rain, don't just write that it's pouring and he's walking in the rain, but have him wiping his face, try to cover his head with a jacket too small, maybe trembling because of the freezing wind, etc... The reader must feel it through your character's senses, and that means mixing not only what the character sees but what he feels or smells.
Refrain from using too much adjectives or adverbs (Things like "he answered angrily"), try to convey the emotion to your reader through indirect means (Maybe he can answer while pounding on the table instead).
Short sentences tends to quicken the pace of the action, while long sentences do the opposite, use that to your advantage.
Hope it helps.
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