  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: emerin-liseli  
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| Hello, everyone! My name is emerin-liseli and I am your guest editor this week. This is the first newsletter I am writing, and I am honored to be able to share a few thoughts about action and adventure. |
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One of the hallmarks of summer is the arrival of the summer movie, and in the United States, the season will begin with the highly anticipated May 7th release of Iron Man 2.
Hollywood's summer lineup is, as usual, filled with your normal action/adventure movies -- everything ranging from the video game inspired Prince of Persia to Angelina Jolie's Salt. These movies -- crafted to be blockbuster hits -- promise the allure of action and adventure in lieu of hot summer days.
Many writers aspire to create blockbusters, too, except in written form. And with the saturation of media -- especially visual media -- in today's culture, it's easy to fall into the trap of writing action scenes from a cinematographic perspective. It's not necessarily bad to visualize your writing as if it were a movie, but if doing so, it's important to keep the differences between film and written word in mind. While the film employs tools such as CGI, wide camera angles and special effects to create the "wow" factor, the writer has more modest means: quick writing, dialogue, and point of view, for example.
Consider the following:
Henry Hero wielded the sword above his head, where it shone like a beacon and could be seen even by his men who stood nearby, watching the fight. His opponent, the dreaded Dreary Demon, lunged forward with his own weapon, trying to leap in for the kill. As if in slow motion, Henry saw the blade approach his throat, and leaned backward as the blade came right under his chin.
They stood in the middle of a large valley, surrounded by blue mountains. From overhead, their motions were lightning fast. Dreary Demon, his anger growing, launched a fireball at Henry, and he leapt into the air, somersaulted, and landed a good few yards away, avoiding the fireball behind him that dissolved into a fiery burst of light.
This is a good start to an action scene -- unfortunately, there are a few issues. First, it's unclear whether we're seeing the action scene from the point of view of Henry Hero or Dreary Demon. For example, if Henry leapt into the air, he wouldn't have seen the fireball dissolve behind him. Second, the point of view attempts to do too much -- the "pan" at the beginning of the second paragraph serves only to undercut the tension and confuse the reader.
Third, the intrusion of film techniques -- slow motion, or an overhead shot -- don't translate well onto the page. It comes off a bit cheesy.
Instead, approach the scene from a writer's point of view. Restrain yourself to one character. Enliven the scene with character thoughts, personality and life, and remember that the writer must simultaneously be actor and director.
Consider the following instead:
Henry Hero hefted his sword, his tired muscles already straining. But the sun emerging behind the mountains gave him new strength, and he forced himself to concentrate. Dreary Demon leered, his lips twisting into a sick smile as he picked up his mace once more.
The demon lunged forward, and Henry caught Dreary's shift in weight from left to right. A feint! Henry dodged the unexpected blow and threw himself backward, shifting his weapon to his sword hand. He panted, but kept his stance, bending his knees to center his weight. He couldn't play this cat-and-mouse game forever.
The Demon's deafening roar made Henry's ears echo. The monster tossed his mace aside, where it landed heavily in the dirt. His scaly hands erupted into flames that gathered into a flaming orb, and he howled in victory as the fireball left his hands.
The rush of hot wind blistered Henry's skin as he leapt into the air, giving himself over to his instincts -- his only chance of survival. His sword fell out of his hand as he tumbled toward the ground, the overwhelming heat of fire burning behind him.
Neither examples are perfect, but hopefully, they illustrate the differences in action/adventure style. The most important way to learn is, of course, to read. Summer movies are fun to watch, but don't forget hot book releases like The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the final installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy or Mockingjay, which will close Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games trilogy. Both sets of trilogies are full of taut, well written action/adventure scenes that display the power of good writing in crafting an absorbing thriller. |
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Action/Adventure: May 05, 2010 Issue [#3705]
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