The Last Word

One of the best things I've learned as a screenwriter is to put the most important word at the END of sentence. 

THAT is where the punch is!

For instance:

I had written a line of dialogue where a naughty merc stated:  "I'd kill my mother for that kind of money."

Rewritten it became:  "For that kind of money, I'd kill my mother."

See? It shocks you... the brain works to put the sentence together and the last word is the final piece of the puzzle. 

One of the best examples I have ever seen was written by Louis L'Amour. (My nod to Will Akers for the quote.) Tell me what YOU think about it.


“I just pointed my rifle at him … and let him have the big one right through the third button on his shirt. If he ever figured to sew that particular button on again he was going to have to scrape it off his backbone.”