 Action/Adventure: October 17, 2007 Issue [#2011] |
  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 vicriously.
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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Your Sales Pitch
This issue I am going to focus on a topic that probably is more at home in the 'For Authors' newsletter, but there's a good reason why it also belongs here, too. Every story/item needs a sales pitch, and Action/Adventure is a popular genre. With all that competition out there, how do you attract the readers to your one literary pebble in the fast flowing tide of writing?
Your first and most important sales pitch for an item on Writing.com is the brief description. How many times have you seen a brief description such as these:
Not that good, but please read // my first attempt at .... // typical romance/hero vs heroine // ............................ // just what the title says // make up your own mind // I don't know // I really need help on this // story I'm working on // I was feeling ... when I wrote this // writ this about a queen and her buttler // Chapter one // and so on
Do any of these make you want to read the item? Some in fact create an immediate 'don't bother' decision in a potential reader. That's a reader lost before they can even read your first sentence.
Spelling is a critical requirement. If the short note in a brief description is not right, it leaves the reader wondering what exactly they'd have to wade through if they ventured into it. They are less inclined to even take a look.
A step up from these non-descript or turn-off brief descriptions are things in the vein of:
boy meets girl who ends up being a murderer // one adventurous day in the life of .... // death and destruction // a walk in the park turns deadly // etc.
These are better, but tend to be ho-hum, not really shining amidst the other stories. They certainly tell a bit more about the item than the first examples, but do they convince a reader to come and read what's within?
So, how does one create an adequate brief description to make the most of the advertising space and attract readers?
Here are a few tips:
 Create a question.
eg. Story = an immortal fighting injustice
BD = Is one thousand lifetimes enough to make a difference?
Use a personal question to challenge the reader.
eg. Story = A girl is captured by mercenaries.
BD = Sara fought till her death. Would you be so brave?
Use a quote from the story.
eg. Story = A boy begins a new life journey as his father passes away.
BD = "His heart was empty save for the lingering whispers of lives no longer lived."
Choose a part of the story which creates a negative or positive reaction in the reader.
eg. Story = Hunters search for a fugitive.
BD = "woman who should be at home baking bread and breeding"
Create interest and curiosity by referring to something unusual about the story, setting, or characterisation.
eg. Story = Adventure on a strange planet.
BD = The void in the dust caused his lungs to burn. He was drowning in clean air.
Some general considerations:
Use an Author's Note within the body of the item to
- specify information about when, why, or for who you wrote the item
- request special attention or help
- provide instructions or background
- to link to previous/next chapters or related items
Avoid being apologetic. We all need to grow and develop in our writing and we are all at different stages in that journey.
Do use twists to attract readers, but do not use something irrelevant or which cannot be understood after reading the story.
These concepts carry over into the creation of a synopsis or paragraph summary. A publisher would not bother with a covering letter promoting a "typical" story in any genre. It is an important skill to distill your story into a brief teaser. Practice your skills by ensuring you have the best sales pitch you can create, using an item's Brief Description.
I hope these can help you really sell your story to the readers here at Writing.com. Now go polish up that pebble and see who comes by to take a look at the gem.
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 A wonderfully inspiring issue, I found your examples particularly helpful. Thank you for another fantastic issue-this one's a must for my ideas file!
dejavu_BIG computerprobs
 How sweet! I'm glad you found it useful.
Hiya Pudi... 
You bring up some very interesting points about writing action. My favorite is whether or not the action is too cliche. I think trying to find new and different ways of saying something is a challenge every writer should work at. Sure, it's easy to say, 'the bullet pierced his body, but much better to say, 'he caught the bullet in his eye'.
billwilcox
I adore finding unique ways of saying things. For me it is part of the joy of writing - to find that description which conveys every sense of the action in an undeniable and unique fashion. That is exciting! I love your example. 
Very informative newsletter. It surprises me how many times the things that we think or no good turn out to be better than usuall. Spur od the moment things can be very catchy. Sleep deprevation counts. I've done it sometimes. I don't recommend it though...
andromeda
Hmmmm, I find sleep deprivation does not do much for my inspiration, in fact it chews it around for a few insomniac hours then sits on it for a three days afterwards. Isn't it wonderful how we all work in such different ways, though?  |
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