How to write a script that doesn’t sound like a script
How can we tell that someone is reading a script?
Even when people don’t appear to-camera, when reading a script it can sound so mechanical – so unnatural.
That’s mainly because they are using ‘written English’.
There are two versions of the English language
English speakers actually have TWO distinct languages – Written English and Spoken English.
We’re going to look at the five key differences
GET PERSONAL (this is the easiest of all)
In everyday life, we talk mainly to individuals. But it amazes me how may instructors ‘broadcast’ their courses. Something like this….
"Now students, I'd like you to try this out..."
Try, always, to think of your audience as a single student…
"Now, I'd like you to try this out"
CONTRACTIONS…
In spoken English, without even thinking about it, we use something called contractions – words or phrases that have been shortened by dropping a few letters.
But at school, Miss Millington told us never to use contractions. She has a lot to answer for.
At the end of these notes, I’ve given you a fairly comprehensive list.
ABBREVIATIONS…
There are some abbreviations we never use in conversation.
PRETENTIOUS TERMS
There are certain terms that are used to make us look cleverer than we really are and, yes, some people use them in conversation. We normally call them bores…
CLICHÉS
At school, we were taught to avoid using clichés – like the plague:-) That rule is as old as the hills :-) The important thing is not to get our knickers in a twist :-)
The ‘no cliché’ rule holds good for journalism and creative writing. For a video script, though, we want to sound conversational – and people do use clichés all the time when talking (well, humans do, anyway. Miss Millington, never) – so we should positively choose to sprinkle some around.
IT SHOULD BE EASY
It should be EASY TO WRITE IN Spoken English, shouldn’t it? We all spend more time every day talking than we do writing. Should be second nature. The problem is, we’re CONDITIONED. It’s that Miss Millington again. The moment we sit at a keyboard, CLUNK, we shift into Written English. It really goes against the grain to write ‘loosely’.
THIS IS MY SECRET
I don’t even try.
1. I just sit down and write Miss Millington-style, in written English – because that’s what comes out of our fingers when we sit at the keyboard.
2. Then, when I’ve finished, I go through my script, marking-up every opportunity for a contraction, dropping any formal abbreviations and any pretentious phrases. Adding clichés is easy – it’s second nature
It takes a FRACTION of the time to edit from written to spoken English than it does to get it right first time than it does to get it right first time
How can we tell that someone is reading a script?
Even when people don’t appear to-camera, when reading a script it can sound so mechanical – so unnatural.
That’s mainly because they are using ‘written English’.
There are two versions of the English language
English speakers actually have TWO distinct languages – Written English and Spoken English.
We’re going to look at the five key differences
GET PERSONAL (this is the easiest of all)
In everyday life, we talk mainly to individuals. But it amazes me how may instructors ‘broadcast’ their courses. Something like this….
"Now students, I'd like you to try this out..."
Try, always, to think of your audience as a single student…
"Now, I'd like you to try this out"
CONTRACTIONS…
In spoken English, without even thinking about it, we use something called contractions – words or phrases that have been shortened by dropping a few letters.
- We say It’s rather than It is
- Haven’t rather than Have not
- Could’ve rather than Could have
But at school, Miss Millington told us never to use contractions. She has a lot to answer for.
At the end of these notes, I’ve given you a fairly comprehensive list.
ABBREVIATIONS…
There are some abbreviations we never use in conversation.
- We never say ‘e.g.’. That’s written English. Instead, we might say ‘for example’
- We don’t say etcetera – we say ‘and so on’
- We don’t say ‘N.B.’ – we don’t even say Nota Bene, or note well. We’re much more likely to say something like ‘Look out for….’
PRETENTIOUS TERMS
There are certain terms that are used to make us look cleverer than we really are and, yes, some people use them in conversation. We normally call them bores…
- We never, ever, ever, say ‘Subsequent to’ – we say ‘after’
- Never ‘Is of the opinion that’ – we just say ‘Believes’
- ‘Come to a decision as to’ (NO!) - Why not just ‘decide’?
- Again, I give you examples in your notes.
CLICHÉS
At school, we were taught to avoid using clichés – like the plague:-) That rule is as old as the hills :-) The important thing is not to get our knickers in a twist :-)
The ‘no cliché’ rule holds good for journalism and creative writing. For a video script, though, we want to sound conversational – and people do use clichés all the time when talking (well, humans do, anyway. Miss Millington, never) – so we should positively choose to sprinkle some around.
IT SHOULD BE EASY
It should be EASY TO WRITE IN Spoken English, shouldn’t it? We all spend more time every day talking than we do writing. Should be second nature. The problem is, we’re CONDITIONED. It’s that Miss Millington again. The moment we sit at a keyboard, CLUNK, we shift into Written English. It really goes against the grain to write ‘loosely’.
THIS IS MY SECRET
I don’t even try.
1. I just sit down and write Miss Millington-style, in written English – because that’s what comes out of our fingers when we sit at the keyboard.
2. Then, when I’ve finished, I go through my script, marking-up every opportunity for a contraction, dropping any formal abbreviations and any pretentious phrases. Adding clichés is easy – it’s second nature
It takes a FRACTION of the time to edit from written to spoken English than it does to get it right first time than it does to get it right first time
