If you've never read a screenplay before, you've never seen a parenthetical before. It's a formatting device used exclusively in screenwriting, and involves a brief descriptor that adds to the dialogue. I wanted to point out the most common mistakes I see new writers make with parentheticals to help you avoid them.
Mistake Number One: Capitalization
The text inside a parenthetical should not be capitalized. This is by far the most common mistake I see, so if it's really important that you indicate that your character is laughing or whispering as they speak, make sure you don't capitalize it.
Mistake Number Two: Placement
Parentheticals can only go before or in the middle of lines of dialogue, not after. So if you want to indicate that your character points while they speak, you can add the parenthetical (pointing) after their name or in the middle of the dialogue, just not at the end. If you want to show an action that happens after the character speaks, it should be a new action line.
Mistake Number Three: Regarding Other Characters
Parentheticals can only indicate actions made by the character who is speaking, no one else. If your character is interrupted, you can't add that information as a parenthetical, it has to be a new action line.
Mistake Number Four: Unnecessary or Redundant
As a general rule, you want to delete every parenthetical you absolutely can. Only include them if they really add to the story and shed new and important light on how the dialogue is delivered. Ideally, the text should speak for itself. If someone is pleading desperately, you don't need to add desperately or pleading in a parenthetical, the lines they speak should convey this information. Only include parentheticals when they add new and important information to the scene.
Mistake Number Five: Too Long
Finally, keep your parentheticals short. They should be one word or a short phrase at most. They can run over one line, but try to keep them as brief as possible. If it turns out you end up writing a lot for a parenthetical, I'd advise you put it in action line instead.
Example:
(500) Days of Summer is one of my favorite screenplays. Check out this sample page to see how parentheticals can be use effectively and formatted appropriately.
For more information on writing parentheticals, check out these resources:
John August's blog post on Using Parentheticals
Christopher Riley's book The Hollywood Standard
StorySense's Screenplay Format Guide on Parentheticals
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