 Action/Adventure: August 03, 2011 Issue [#4530] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Action = Movement -> Adventure Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Adventure is worthwhile.
Aesop
Each day is a blank page, an adventure to be written, action and re-action ~ be pro-active. Writing itself is action ~ creating an adventure for your readers to embrace in prose or verse.
Welcome to this week's Action/Adventure Newsletter, where we explore (action) adventures to create for our characters, our readers, ourselves.
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Every story, poem, book has a beginning and end. Between that beginning and end, even in a short story or poem, there are highs and lows. There are chapters, scenes, paragraphs, stanzas and paragraphs. To weave a story for characters and readers, especially in one that seeks adventure, these stanzas, scenes, chapters connect somehow, even if each is a mountain range, a continent, a galaxy or alternate universe away.
Consider a movie, where transitions between scenes are easy to follow. The screen fades to black, and when it lights up again, you're watching a new scene.
But you don't just see an ink blot or a blank page when moving from one place or state of being in a story or poem or book. You plan and show how your characters get from one scene or verse to another. You know where you want your character and reader to end up (most of the time), and showing the way there keeps them actively involved in the developing adventure - yes, both the characters and readers. You may know each movement of your characters, but you don't need to put it all out there. Consider your own actions, you don't consciously think, I take my shoes out of the closet, set my right foot into one, tie a knot, then a bow, then a double-knot. You don't ponder the ignition as you insert the key, turn it and depress the gas. You just act and do it. Your characters and readers likewise intuit some things on autopilot. Now, if the key doesn't start the car because you grabbed the wrong set, and realize it's somebody else's car in your driveway, then it's a transition that moves the story forward, your character needs to react to what happened.
Consider transitions as punctuation - a brief comma or perhaps a semicolon to separate comparative action. Maybe you need a period to end a scene and begin the next chapter or verse in a new place. But the period should resolve an action or prepare the character for a conflict, challenge, or new interaction. Tansitions can leave a question, or they can end on an exclamation point so that readers hang onto the edge of their seat, anticipating hungrily for the next scene.
Your transition needs some structure, and it requires thinking ahead. You have to think about where your character has just been to wrap up your scene, and you have to know where your character needs to be next, so you can make the transition between both scenes a smooth one without getting lost in mundane minutiae. But if something exciting is around the corner, a teaser or taste will prepare your character to act and incite your reader to turn the page.
When transitioning between scenes and setting up a new one, choose an interesting point of entry. Someone once said (George Lucas, perhaps?) that it's sometimes better to start in the middle.
You're probably thinking, "Huh? Start in the middle? Isn't that confusing?" Not if you do it right. Go ahead and skip right to the good part. Start just before the point you know something good is going to happen.
If you need to add details, a quick paragraph or two suffices - don't recount the minutes of the past three hours to set your scene up. Give a few highlights so the reader has a sense of where and when they are, and then dig in.
Writing perfect transitions are a tool in your writing toolbox. They're just as important as any element of the story and not one to be taken for granted. Good transitions contribute to the anticipation and excitement, and they keep readers turning those pages.
Consider transitioning into the midst of the next action. Some expressions allude to another phase of the adventure and prepare the character to take action. While you're reading, either your own adventure story or poem, or that of another, consider the use of some key phrases or words that transition from one action to another.
 Sequential or logical action and movement - i.e., also, just so, then, next, first, nearby, far, finally.
Prepare for the exception - i.e., on the other hand, nevertheless, yet.
Present a sense of time passing - i.e., at last, later, meanwhile, now, then.
Give a reason why - i.e., because, once before, again, remember (yes, a bit of backstory can add depth to an adventure, a bit only, I think).
Show cause and effect, either to thwart or aid the quest or adventure - i.e., therefore, because, so, besides, then.
End the story/verse - i.e., thus, in sum, in the end, finally.
Consider while you read, and write, your own adventures, how these transitions work to draw your characters, and you as witer and reader, into the story and keep you turning the pages because you want to stay in the action.
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading |
I invite you to engage in some adventures conceived by some members of our Community, see how they keep the action moving, and if you will, share your thoughts with a comment or review
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Thank you for sharing this exploration with me. Writing transitions is tough for me, and I tried here to find some ways to make it work better for me. Hope some of the ideas also work for you.
Until we next meet, may your journey have fewer pitfalls than successes, more joy than sorrow, that you arrive at your destination with a smile.
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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