 Action/Adventure: May 16, 2007 Issue [#1712] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Puditat  
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Life without action is static, and by necessity, it would therefore be dead. Action writing takes the normal and shares it for all to live vicariously.
Adventure is the spice: the exciting, adrenalin-pumping, thrill that makes one feel so alive. Everyone has an adventuresome spirit. Maybe dreams of excavating some long-lost treasure, visiting a new country, or trying a new flavour of potato chip.  Some of us prefer our adventures to come between the pages of a book, and many of us like to write that adventure. |
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Settings -- More Than A Backdrop
Setting is a part of a story that can be meticulously planned, or it may evolve out of a need for your characters to experience various things. Whether you design it, or allow it to grow out of the characters or scenes in which you place them, setting is much more than the location your characters live.
The following is a breakdown of the basic types of settings I've thought of.
Passive Settings
Passive settings are merely props in a stage show. The action happens in front of it, around it. In this type of setting we find a sense of period and style, an indication of affluence or poverty, physical location, and more. All these things are subtle cues for the reader, bringing much understanding of the events and characters. However, the setting has no active role in the story beyond a relation of time and place.
An example of a passive setting:
Jed walked through the ranks of cars parked in silent rows, listening to his lone footsteps slap against the oil-stained concrete. The air stank with grease and old exhaust fumes, but his unease came from something less obvious.
Passive settings have many uses and can help convey emotion and identification. In a novel, there will be many times a passive setting is all that is required. An adventure story often takes place in exotic or foreign areas where the setting is important to convey or heighten the experience of the adventurer. A well chosen passive setting brings authenticity to the scenario and will feel natural to the reader.
Integrated Settings
Some settings are required to enable our characters to do certain things. Without the appropriate setting we cannot put the hero or villain through his/her tests. Integrated settings may be used to indicate all those things listed under 'Passive Settings', but its main purpose is to provide a vehicle for the characters to act in or on.
An example of an integrated setting:
Jed quickened his pace, scanning each car he passed by. He could have placed the bomb in any of them, but he wanted to choose the best vehicle, or maybe he was just delaying the moment. His pulse thumped when he spied a white sedan. It looked just like any other vehicle on Level 4 of the parking building, but he knew this was the one. Now he understood why he'd chosen to get off the elevator at this particular floor. The car gleamed. Fine beads of water still sat along its paintwork from a recent car wash, glimmering under the intermittent glow of a troubled fluorescent light. It seemed fitting -- an angel's car to deliver his package to heaven.
In this scenario, I have made the setting a part of his actions. I could have written it as a passive setting without going into his reasonings for the choice, but instead I chose to make the setting into an integral part of his decision making. An Integrated Setting needs the detail of a Passive Setting to 'ground' it.
Active Settings
Active settings are the least used, building upon the Passive and Integrated Settings. They must be carefully woven into the story, with some reason for it to be active. This type of setting is more often found in the fantasy and science fiction genres where the normal rules of earth can be suspended or bent to the author's whimsy. However, active settings do have their uses in any genre.
An example of an active setting:
Jed angled across the parking garage toward the white car, passing by a rank of pompous foreign sports cars in collusion with masculine SUVs. One prissy red Porsche didn't take kindly to his passing and set to wailing. Her alarm raised, the less touchy and suspicious of the line up gave their support to her with strident cries. The sirens rode in an echoing wave around the concrete, forcing Jed's free hand to cover one ear. With a last glance at the white sedan he trotted smartly toward the elevators, using his free hand to support the clumsy weight of the bomb hidden beneath his coat. He'd visit the cafe on the ground floor for a coffee while the screams settled, and then try to reach his angel again.
The active setting is often achieved by personifying an inanimate object (cars in this example).
From the three examples I've provided, you can see how a setting is built. Each stage deepens the detail and provides clues to the character's actions, eventually moving from a backdrop to the action to being a living part of the scene.
When writing a setting, consider whether it is something that can be used to provide a foil to your character's actions. Often we use other characters to perform this role, but setting can sometimes be a better option. It also helps to vary the storyline and opens up many more opportunities to create difficulties for your hero.
Many classic examples of active settings are found in The Lord of The Rings. To demonstrate the setting, I will quote a section from The Fellowship of the Ring where J.R.R. Tolkein describes a scene, not portrayed in the movie, where Pippin and Merry are taken hostage by a tree. A passive setting is the forest in all its creepy, damp, forbidding glory. An integrated setting is the forest explaining some of Middle Earth's history and presenting a frustrating hurdle to overcome during their journey. The active setting Tolkein makes it increases its role in the action, giving it life.
I have omitted some of the narrative as Tolkein tends to be a little long-winded at times:
"** He [Frodo] lifted his heavy eyes and saw leaning over him a huge willow-tree, old and hoary. Enormous it looked, its sprawling branches going up like reaching arms with many long-fingered hands, its knotted and twisted trunk gaping in wide fissures that creaked faintly as the boughs moved...** Merry and Pippin dragged themselves forward and lay down with their backs to the willow-trunk. Behind them the great cracks gaped wide to receive them as the tree swayed and creaked. They looked up at the gery and yellow leaves, moving softly against the light, and singing. They shut their eyes, and then it seemed that they could almost hear words, cool words, saying something about water and sleep. They gave themselves up to the spell and fell fast asleep at the foot of the great grey willow....** Pippin had vanished. The crack by which he had laid himself had closed together, so that not a chink could be seen. Merry was trapped: another crack had closed about his waist; his legs lay outside, but the rest of him was inside a dark opening, the edges of which gripped like a pair of pincers....He [Frodo] kicked the tree with all his strength, heedless of his own feet. A hardly perceptible shiver ran through the stem and up into the branches; the leaves rustled and whispered, but with a sound now of faint and far-off laughter."
The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkein
What begins as a passive setting describing a location evolves into an integrated setting (causing them to sleep in the middle of their quest), and then into an active setting as Tolkein imbues the tree with life, working against the quest. The asterisks I've inserted represent the development of the setting into the next phase.
From my little workspace to you,
have a great day.
Puditat
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 Wonderful newsletter on 'pace'. I enjoyed it very much. The quote was right on! 
IdaLin
Thank you! 
Two thumbs up - a great newsletter about pace. Great advice on adverbs as well. Used sparingly, they can be very effective.
SantaBee 
I appreciate the backing. 
Hi, Puditat. I enjoyed your newsletter very much. I might suggest, though, that -ing forms of verbs used without a helping verb are no longer verbs, present tense or otherwise, but are either gerunds (nounds) or participles (adjectives). Sorry, teacher in me just keeps pushing her way out of that closet. 
Vivian 
Thanks, Viv! There's no need to apologise -- I appreciate learning more about what I love doing.  It's good for our readers to have the opportunity to read your correction too.
Pudi, what can I say? Just an excellent newsletter from start to finish. Bravo!
billwilcox
Awww, shucks.  Thank you!
yet another helpful review that everybody from novices to experts can use again and again. you made a heavy impact on me with that quote. it is amazing and memorable. great job at covering all the aspects of the newsletter with helpful tips and comments!
hope to see that newsletter on movements of the characters!
likenion
It's wonderful to receive such feedback! I still have some research and thought to do on your suggested topic, so stick around. |
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