 Action/Adventure: December 20, 2011 Issue [#4782] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Without Action there's no Adventure Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Greetings! and welcome to this edition of the WDC Action & Adventure Newsletter, where we actively engage each other and our readers with action
Each day is a blank page, an adventure
to be written, action and re-action
~ be pro-active
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Greetings,
One can say that life itself is an adventure, as we daily encounter (fellow writers, we don't merely pass by, we notice) something to solve, surmount, answer, question - you get the point And we can write of such adventure, real or invented, in a number of genres. Adventure stories and poems can be romantic, historical, science fiction, fantasy, mystery....
Action by definition is movement . Action and Adventure stories and poems therefore are intense, forceful and maybe violent. The action keeps your reader involved, on edge, and needing (not just wanting) to keep reading
Action is movement. We don't want to see it interrupted by reflection, internal thought. We want to see the characters react to the situation, their environment.
For example, we wouldn't want to read that "Jack ran, sliding across the parking lot, thinking that a sniper could be behind one of the stalled car on the curb."
 Instead,. how about, "Jack slid across the parking lot, gun raised to pan the tangle of cars tangled atop the black ice, each a potential sniper's shield."
Not perfect, but you see that I traded adverbs and adjectives for descriptive words to make it more vivid, more active, less introspective.
Keep up the pace with shorter, cleaner, sentences and paragraphs. Again, if we eliminate the picturesque descriptions, the action stands on its own. Your hero (or villain) would not be contemplating the myriad stars lighting his way beneath a cerulean sky as he/she plots the next move. He or she would be making the next move.
Movement. An Action and Adventure moves the characters from one place to another. The story moves from one locale to another; from a jungle with insurgents chasing potential hostages to a city with terrorists chasing your hero. (I 'borrowed' this from 24's prequel as an example.)
Clean, crisp transitions from one scene or sequence to another. This maintains momentum and keeps the story or plot on track. We don't see the hero or heroine sleeping and dreaming, or having a nice relaxing dinner, or in the washroom (unless perhaps he/she busts through the door after a villain).
Dialogue that's on point and moves the plot along. This means few, if any, extraneous dialogue tags. Stick with "he said," or "she replied," ejecting the spent shell casings. - Then move, once again. Dialogue can also thus introduce a shift in point of view.
Cut the backstory. In an Action & Adventure, readers don't want to spend a chapter on the hero's childhood fear of spiders. Dialogue, or disgust expressed with a shudder upon finding one in a weapons cache akin to his mother's utensil drawer gives the reader the picture and forwards the plot (weapons cache - utensil drawer - both have knives).
Minimize pathos; keep it real. For example, when in hand-to-hand combat, your hero can trade a comment or two with the villain, perhaps recall a past battle or maybe a time they were on the same side, in a few words. But your hero would not engage in such a discourse if the battle were being waged by trading fire a block away, or across a field.
Know your facts. Readers of Action & Adventure do. Embelish with realistic possibilities. For example, if your character downloads a list of counteragents to your cellphone, then exchanges the cell for a prisoner, it may have a code command ot self destroy the data upon replay. (This was done on 24 and a friend of mine broke open his cellphone to look for such a chip (possibility) - what with gps encoding (fact). He didn't find it, and had to get a replacement cellphone for the one he broke).
If you like to write it, you already do this - read and watch Action & Adventure. The challenging movement, action, plot advancement, to the satisfying resolution is what keeps you reading, and writing it!
Keep it Active!
Keep it Real!
Keep Writing!Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Moving about our Community is an adventure ~ and you will encounter some good action. Enjoy the read ~ and I hope you let the writers know how you enjoyed vicariously the adventures.
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Looking for an adventure? Ready to create your own action?
You'll find some motivation here daily ~ enough to give you
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Thank you for welcoming me to your virtual home. I I invite you to tell me about your favorite action & adventure stories and poems - and share some you've written.
Wishing each of you joy, inspiration, and success in all your writing (and other) action the coming year.
Yuletide Blessings
Merry Christmas
Happy Chanukah
Joyous Kwanzaa
Until we next meet, Next Year
Write On!
Kate - Writing & Reading
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