 Drama: March 17, 2010 Issue [#3579] |
  Drama
This week: Action-Reaction--Part Two Edited by: esprit  
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(Ernest Hemingway)
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You need to know only four things in order to write a solid story: how to group words into motivation-reaction units; how to group motivation-reaction units into scenes and sequels; how to group scenes and sequels into story pattern; how to create the kind of characters that give a story life. Dwight V. Swain
Action-Reaction--Part Two
"You can write the perfectly structured scene.
"Techniques of the Selling Writer" by Dwight V. Swain is easy to understand and Mr. Swain explains procedures simply. I'm studying structure and find it very useful. Part One. Drama NL of March 3rd, showed how to structure scenes for consistency. This portion takes it a bit further into the actual writing of the scenes. It was so useful to me that I wanted to share it with you. Instead of paraphrasing, I use his words--they say it better than I could. I hope it sheds some light onto writing a good story--scene by scene.
I replaced a word with 'expletive' to keep the content within the rate. The content is quoted from Mr. Swain's book.
How to write or rewrite paragraph after compelling paragraph, with each one leading your POV character smoothly through from initial Goal to knuckle-whitening Conflict to bone-jarring Disaster, and then through a visceral Reaction to a horrible Dilemma and finally on to a clever Decision.
"Action-Reaction"
"Motivation-Reaction: Alternating between what your POV character sees (the Motivation) and what he does (the Reaction). This is supremely important. Swain calls these things "Motivation-Reaction Units" MRUs.
The Motivation is objective but it is something that your character can see (or hear or smell or taste or feel). You will write this in such a way that your reader also sees it (or hears it or smells it or tastes it or feels it). You will then start a new paragraph in which your POV character does one or more things in Reaction to the Motivation. There is an exact sequence you must follow in writing your Reaction. The sequence is based on what is physiologically possible. Note that the Motivation is external and objective. The Reaction is internal and subjective. If you do this, you create in your reader the powerful illusion that he is experiencing something real. Now let's break this down into more detail . . .
The Motivation is external and objective, and you present it that way, in objective, external terms. You do this in a single paragraph. It does not need to be complicated.
Here is a simple example:
The tiger dropped out of the tree and sprang toward Jack.
Note the key points here. This is objective. We present the Motivation as it would be shown by a videocamera. Nothing here indicates that we are in Jack's point of view. That comes next, but in the Motivation we keep it simple and sharp and clean.
The Reaction is internal and subjective, and you present it that way, exactly as your POV character would experience it -- from the inside.
The Reaction is more complex than the Motivation. The reason is that it is internal, and internal processes happen on different time-scales. When you see a tiger, in the first milliseconds, you only have time for one thing -- fear. Within a few tenths of a second, you have time to react on instinct, but that is all it will be -- instinct, reflex. But shortly after that first reflexive reaction, you will also have time to react rationally, to act, to think, to speak. You must present the full complex of your character's reactions in this order, from fastest time-scale to slowest. If you put them out of order, then things just don't feel right. You destroy the illusion of reality. And your reader won't keep reading because your writing is "not realistic." Even if you got all your facts right.
Here is a simple example:
A bolt of raw adrenaline shot through Jack's veins. He jerked his rifle to his shoulder, sighted on the tiger's heart, and squeezed the trigger. "Die, you 'expletive!"
Now let's analyze this. Note the three parts of the Reaction:
Feeling: "A bolt of raw adrenaline shot through Jack's veins." You show this first, because it happens almost instantly.
Reflex: "He jerked his rifle to his shoulder . . ." You show this second, as a result of the fear. An instinctive result that requires no conscious thought.
Rational Action and Speech: ". . . sighted on the tiger's heart, and squeezed the trigger. 'Die, you expletive!'" You put this last, when Jack has had time to think and act in a rational way. He pulls the trigger, a rational response to the danger. He speaks, a rational expression of his intense emotional reaction.
It is legitimate to leave out one or two of these three parts. (You can't leave out all three or you have no Reaction.)
But there is one critical rule to follow in leaving parts out: Whatever parts you keep in must be in the correct order. If there is a Feeling, it must come first. If there is a Reflex, it must never come before a Feeling. If there is some Rational Action, it must always come last. This is simple and obvious and if you follow this rule, your Reactions will be perfectly structured time after time.
And after the Reaction comes . . . another Motivation. This is the key. You can't afford to write one perfect MRU and then be happy. You've got to write another and another and another. The Reaction you just wrote will lead to some new Motivation that is again external and objective and which you will write in its own paragraph. Just to continue the example we've created so far:
The bullet grazed the tiger's left shoulder. Blood squirted out of the jagged wound. The tiger roared and staggered, then leaped in the air straight at Jack's throat.
Note that the Motivation can be complex or it can be simple. The only requirement is that it be external and objective, something that not only Jack can see and hear and feel but which any other observer could also see and hear and feel, if they were there.
The important thing is to keep the alternating pattern. You write a Motivation and then a Reaction and then another Motivation and then another Reaction. When you run out of Motivations or Reactions, your Scene or Sequel is over. Don't run out too soon. Don't drag on too long.
Write each Scene and Sequel as a sequence of MRUs. Any part of your Scene or Sequel which is not an MRU must go. Cut it ruthlessly. Show no mercy. You can not afford charity for a single sentence that is not pulling its weight. And the only parts of your scene that pull their weight are the MRUs. All else is fluff."
The word "Sequel" is Swain's word for the Reaction Scene that always follows the Action Scene. Together, they are called MRUs
For further info see Part One -- "Invalid Entry"
Source:
"Techniques of the Selling Writer" by Dwight V. Swain
Thanks for reading.
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
By: StephBee 
Comment: Esprit, thanks so much for sharing this pattern with us. It can really help as one prepares to write a scene.
By: Joy 
Comment: Great newsletter on the structural pattern, Esprit. Maybe I can use it for the next NaNo. Thanks.
Thanks to you both for commenting, Complicated instructions confuse me, so I'm for finding the simple way to accomplish anything. This process is simple and I hope is good for beginning writers.
Editors:
Joy
Adriana Noir
esprit
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