 Action/Adventure: June 17, 2009 Issue [#3114] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them -- then the rest will be valuable."
Mark Twain
Greetings! I am honored to be your guest host this week and we'll embark on an adventure together, with some action to kick start the day
My favorite action and adventure stories involve a quest, and the journey to actively attain the quest.
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Greetings,
There is no story without action, and you can create an adventure anywhere ~ whether climbing a mountain, diving for a lost ring, or dodging panhandlers on the way to work (the second obstacle course above). Action brings an adventure story or poem to life, engages taste, smell, touch, sight, mind, to make it real and visceral for the reader - staying in the moment as the story is revealed through the actions of the adventurer.
My favorite adventures begin with a quest, and the action is the journey the hero or protagonist takes to attain the quest, determined and focused, battling (or avoiding) adversaries that would deny him/her the goal. Along the way, the protagonist may encounter help or hindrance, doubts and verification, but does not digress from the focus on the goal (or plunge into a plethora of adjectives or adverbs to describe what he sees or perceives or imagines), and experiences his/her surroundings with immediate visual, aural, sensory impact on the way to securing his/her quest.
Action/movement keeps the reader involved and anxious to turn each page, as eager to attain the quest as the protagonist, involved in the fast-paced 'otherworld' real or imagined, whether in the past, present, or future, the writer develops with economy of words to propel the story or poem (and the reader) forward along the journey.
So, for me, my favorite Action and Adventure stories and poems give me the following:
 A quest
A reason the quest is necessary or important to the protagonist
Adversary(ies) to thwart the attainment of said quest
Action that focuses the protagonist's journey towards the quest (with economy of distracting ancillary verbiage)
Attaining the quest - or failing to - and how - by the adventurer
  
Skye's Journey to the Tower
Skye wakes to the strident call, summoning her again to attend her destiny; and again she slaps her hand across its face, silencing the mechanized messenger. She rises before the sun warms away the night and after a quick charge to the motor mental, takes up the challenge. She sprints across the obstacle course, alert to the daily changes in terrain, to face the onslaught of behemoths, dodging their crushing metallic maws at the last possible moment, on her way to the transport.
After a quick headsnap back and forth to assure clear distance behind and before her, Skye squares her shoulders and boards the transport, donning a measured mask of indifferent disregard at the crunch of bones and flesh beneath her feet. There are no tentacles reaching towards her today, but she remains wary and observant while affecting the required somnolent shuffle to attain a seat. She plots her course, prepared to do battle with mortal or behemoth as necessary, to reach the tower. The transport eventually stops near her destination and the doors open with a rush of compressed air, allowing her to disembark, fellow passengers unmindful of her quest.
Much as she would like to follow the gulls to the lake for a brief respite, she knows that time is too short. Skye plots her path to the tower, now within reach, before embarking on the second obstacle course of the day as the sun, fully formed along the horizon, chases her challengers from their shadowed sanctuaries. No match for her swift-paced tenacity, they give way after but a brief confrontation and she attains the tower, ascending to welcome another workday, safe in her cube on the 23rd floor.
I crafted an adventure out of my journey to work; took it third person and added some action, while attempting to 'kill' the plethora of adjectives and adverbs - keeping it active. I did it by creating a quest, giving a sentient identity to the oncoming minivans with cell phone-wielding one-handed sleepy drivers (behemoths) challenging my walk along the street to the bus stop. The transport is the bus packed with sleepy worker bees sardined among droopy-drawered students, the floors and seats littered with remains of illicit meals identifiable only by the miasma of 'aromas' (being polite here). What made this a quest? What elements make a journey a quest?
Consider asking your character the following questions ~ the answers your character gives will help define your story or poem - give it sentient life. You may or may not show all the answers, or reveal them as the adventure unfolds, but your adventurer knows them and they guide the adventurer (and your pen)
What is the goal?
What is the significance of the goal?
Why Must the adventurer attain this (emphasis with intent)?
Are others vying for this goal? If so, will they do battle or set up obstacles?
Is it a race? What happens if someone/something else wins?
How will the adventurer benefit personally from attaining the goal?
Will others benefit from the adventurer's attaining the goal?
What is the danger of not attaining the goal?
Is attaining the goal the end? If not, then why do it?
As your story or poem takes on its life, more questions will come to mind, and your adventurer's answers will guide your pen to actively share the adventure with your readers
There is so much action and adventure in life, past and present, and future - to incite the muse creative to wax prosaic and poetic. I hope you enjoyed our brief journey today and maybe there are some questions you have that will incite an adventure in response to a quest.
Until we next meet, may your 'adventures' be creative, satisfying, and safe ~
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Some adventures 'on the job' ordinary and not so ordinary for your summer reading, and reviewing, pleasure
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How about your 'dream'? 'job' ~ Thinking along the line of questioning above, answer the questions in the Madlib and see what your muse envisions
Now, how about this for a 'job' ~ you can get in on the ground floor ~ check it out
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Thank you for joining me on my 'adventure' ordinary, but not quite. As a guest host, I don't have a formal ask and answer, so I pose you a question,
Will Jack go through the next '24' hours in a coma? as a ghost? Who else will return from his past to cause mayhem the coming 'day'? What's your thinking? If you know not of what i ask, you're missing a great action-aventure series with some creative and realistic writing packed with suspense an espionage and altgether a creative aventure.
If you do know the adventure or would like to explore it futher, my question,
Wwould you be interested in a '24' challenge? Would you participate? If so, write in to this newsletter. I don't know when I'll be back here, but I can check and we'll see if there's enough interest in bringing Jack back for a visit here before next January.,
Keep Writing!
Kate Kate - Writing & Reading
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