Verbs are what’s happening

This week’s episode finds Craig and John answering questions about agent etiquette, business cards and those troubling rewrites that unravel everything. From there, John goes on a small tirade about weak verbs and Dungeons and Dragons-style scene description. Good writing: It’s not just for novelists. There’s some language geekery as well, with a look at the hidden micro-classes of verbs that prevent a reasonable speaker from saying things like, “Whisper Tom the joke.” All this and more in the 42nd installment of Scriptnotes. LINKS: Chicago Fire on NBC Flight trailer Buddha Jones trailer house Th-Fronting The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, by Steven Pinker NYC Subway by Embark, the transit app for iOS MacBook Pro with Retina Display INTRO: Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels OUTRO: Verb! That’s What’s Happening, a Schoolhouse Rock cover by Moby You can download the episode here: AAC. UPDATE 6-21-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.The post Verbs are what’s happening first appeared on John August.